Promise in the Days Ahead
by Laurie-ky
Summary: Avengers: Banner's gone. The Avengers on Earth will do what they can to protect their missing teammate and pave the way for his return. To do so, they're going to have to learn as much as they can about Bruce Banner. Along the way they find themselves learning about each other as well, and the people that were thrown together to stop an alien invasion become a team.
1. Breaking the News

**Promise in the Days Ahead**

A sequel to Walking the Path Between Welcome and Exile

_Every Road Has Two Directions_

Russian Proverb

**Chapter One.** **Breaking the News**

"_I keep looking at the sky, cause it's getting me high._ No, no, not the 10mm ratchet, give me the 12mm one," Tony yelled, interrupting his AC/DC sing-along session to set Dum-E straight. It felt great to be spending time in his workshop. He'd get Bruce down here, too. Bruce wasn't an engineer, but the boy knew his way around a toolbox, according to a footnote on Bruce's S.H.I.E.L.D. file.

Tony held out one hand imperviously, and wiggled his other one inside the gauntlet of what would someday be the Mark IX. He loved all of his Iron Man suits, but there was always room for improvement and specialization.

Dropping the correct ratchet into Tony's hand, Dum-E made a whirring, inquisitive sound. "Good job, Dum-E. We'll make a grease monkey out of you yet," and he smiled fondly when Dum-E chirped happily at the praise. Tony pushed off hard against his worktable and his chair rolled to a new work station.

Tony tightened up a connection and moved the glove through various motions, returning to humming along and occasionally chiming back in with an occasional line from a song as he finished the preliminary tests on the left gauntlet.

"_If I go there will be trouble. An if I stay it will be double,"_ he sang. Hah. That was Bruce's theme song at the moment. Bruce worried too much. Tony's lawyers, plus calling in a few favors, would take of Bruce's legal problems.

Humming along to the Clash, he decided to add that song to the Banner/Stark list that he was throwing together. He wanted to listen to it whenever he and Bruce were both working in the Chitauri research lab. He didn't know if Bruce had figured out yet that he'd inspired some of the music on that list. Probably not. Bruce got a faraway look in those brown eyes of his when he started doing research. Although he would talk to Tony and follow along with the conversation, he was mostly on autopilot while that big, beautiful brain of his was figuring out the secrets to the universe.

Since he'd gone about as far with testing as he could on the designs on the Mark IX, he decided that playtime was over. He planned on heading back up to the alien tech lab after Bruce was awake and he'd drag Bruce along. He wanted to consult about the amazing theories that Bruce was coming up with before Tony dove back into understanding the Chitauri and their tech.

He collapsed his files, ending the volumetric display, locked up the gauntlets, and ordered Butterfingers and Dum-E to put away his tools in his deluxe Snap-on tool chests. Snap-on execs would fall over themselves wanting to pay him for endorsements if they knew how much he used their products. Hmm.

"JARVIS."

"Sir?"

"Make a note, oh, and send a copy to Pepper. File: Snap-on. Subfolder: Endorsements. Folders: Avengers funding; Avengers Cleanup Costs."

He paused, attention wandering as he estimated just how much the cleanup bill for Manhattan was going to be, until JARVIS gave a discrete cough.

"Hold your programming. I was thinking."

"Of course you were, Sir," JARVIS said dryly.

Tony grinned. He fucking loved it when JARVIS was sassy.

"Record: Snap-on tools are used by Tony Stark. No, really, I use them. They're good tools. Send out feelers to Snap-on about endorsing them and having the money donated to funding the Avengers and contributing to the clean up cost from Loki's turning the city into his battle ground. End recording."

"Noted, Sir."

Tony got himself a bottle of water and rolled back to the computer station. Pulling up his music lists, he threw them into the air intending to have something mindless to do with his hands while he thought about Fury and his devious ways. The one-eyed bastard said he'd gotten orders from the Council to put the Avengers back on ice. The same bunch of talking heads that had ordered a fucking missile strike on Manhattan. Fury had disobeyed those orders, bless his bald head and one bloodshot eye.

Fury must have figured he could have his cake and eat it, too. He'd told them they were disbanded, and Banner should go into voluntary protective custody with S.H.I.E.L.D. He'd followed his orders, but oh, look, the Avengers staged a mutiny with Cap at the helm and they're still the fucking Avengers. What's a director of a super-sekrit-spy agency to do.

He chugged the water as he flicked through some classic rock, shooting a few appropriate tunes to the Banner/Stark list. Walsh's _ Life's Been Good_ and _I Can't Drive 55_ by Hagar, those were for him. Bruce, for God's sake, had said he'd walked a lot to get to wherever he was going. That, and hitchhiking. Okay, he'd look for a hitchhiking tune for Bruce.

He found _Hitch Hike_ by the Stones and with a flick of his finger sent it spinning over to join his playlist. Cool. He'd grab a couple more Bruce tunes, then go and wake him up and fix him a sandwich. Twelve hours was long enough to sleep. He found more Bruce songs to add, _Carry On Wayward Son_ and _Ramble On_, decided he'd look for one more and quit.

He was debating adding _Free Bird_ when Steve opened the lab door.

"Hey, Cap, what's up?" Tony said, looking over but only half paying attention, as he decided _Free Bird_ worked as a Bruce song and pushed it over with one finger to the playlist.

Then he glanced again at Steve and shut everything down because it didn't seem likely Steve had dropped by to hang out with Tony. Steve was being Captain America, and that meant something really was up.

"Tony, I need to talk to you." Steve was walking fast towards him and Tony quickly riffled through his

memory for anything he'd done recently that might have put that expression on Captain America's face.

Maybe his brilliant ability to break into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s computers, er, no, his brilliant _testing_ of S.H.I.E.L.D's systems was going to be an issue. Tony thought of his hacking as coming under his arrangement to be a consultant. He was helping S.H.I.E.L.D. with tightening up their cyber security. Fury was _paying_ him to do this shit.

Steve stopped in front of him, serious and intent. Tony stared up at him and decided he'd just spill the beans now to avoid the interrogation. Steve wouldn't approve of Tony's somewhat fluid ethics when it came to dealing with S.H.I.E.L.D., but it was S.H.I.E.L.D. They needed Tony to prod at them and keep them sharp.

"Okay, Cap, I know what you're going to say."

"Tony-"

"But really, I'm doing S.H.I.E.L.D. a service by testing their computer security. I wiggle my way in, have some fun, they act like an embarrassed girl whose boyfriend's nimble fingers whisked her bra off while making out, they get their tits covered back up, and I go back to testing. I'm a consultant, you know. I can totally do this kind of shit and as a bonus, I get paid."

Steve narrowed his eyes. "Is what you're doing with your nimble fingers called hacking? Where you can monitor or take information from somebody else's computer?"

"Uh, yes?" Tony gave him one of his most charming smiles, but, of course, Captain America seemed immune to it.

"Can you do it and not let the lady know you've been disturbing her clothes?" Steve asked thoughtfully.

"Well, sure. But me hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s systems has been more in the line of light entertainment."

"By that you mean?"

"Cap, they know I'm doing it; they like to catch me. It's educational for them. I'm hoping to spot Fury taking a nap in his underwear in his office and post it to all the baby agents' monitors. Cheer the poor little darlings right up." Tony tried smiling again at Steve. Steve was not smiling back.

"Tony, why are you telling me this?" Steve was eying him like he was a jack-in-the-box that had popped open and might bop him with his long springy arms.

"Because of the look on your face when you came in here and said you needed to talk to me. I'm a busy man. I figured I'd save both of us some time and admit to the only thing I could come up with that you would disapprove of this week."

Tony wasn't joking about saving time. He'd actually done an experiment when he was fourteen, and the results clearly had proved that just confessing and getting the disappointment in him stage over quickly freed up So Much Time.

Steve said, "I'm not your Jiminy Cricket, Tony."

"You tend to radiate disapproval, though. So, you a Disney fan?"

" I saw Pinocchio in 1940. The animation was fantastic."

"You went for the art?"

"Sure. I was an artist before I became a soldier, Tony. Guess people don't remember that about me. Let's get back to hacking, though. It's against the law."

"It's just a hobby now."

"You're not a juvenile delinquent. So you must have good reasons to do it."

"II hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D's files on the helicarrier and found out about the plans for weapons based on that giant robot Loki sent to whip Thor's ass, remember?"

"I do. I think we'll need to talk more about your nimble fingers later. We're going to want to listen in to what S.H.I.E.L.D. is doing when it comes to our team."

"Wait. Captain America is suggesting that I-"

"But you should do it quietly, Tony. You can still be loud to draw their attention away from what you're really doing, though." Steve said, then he looked very serious again. "But I came to talk to you about Bruce."

"Bruce? Why aren't you calling him Doctor Banner? Don't you respect him anymore?"

"I respect Bruce."

"I dunno. You're being awfully familiar by using his first name." Tony was just kidding, but Steve's declaration the other day that he would call Bruce by his title to show his respect had been kind of sweet and old-fashioned. So of course Tony wanted to mess with him about it.

Steve's face pinked up. That was interesting. Captain America was blushing. Maybe he had a crush on Bruce. Well, who didn't? Bruce was so damn smart and so casual about his brilliance. He was a bundle of contradictions – how cool was it that he actually changed mass and height to become the Hulk – and had expressive, beautiful eyes. Tony was sure Bruce had no idea how much he gave away with his brown eyes. When he wore his glasses he looked uber cute. His hair was inviting. Tony personally had a hard time keeping his hands out of Bruce's curls. He'd gotten away with it a couple of times, once when Bruce was sleeping and once when he was teasing him.

Yep, Banner was a cutie, and maybe Steve had enjoyed carrying the good doctor up to bed a lot more than Tony had realized. He'd helped Tony undress Bruce, after all. Still, Steve hadn't blushed then, so something must have changed.

"Do you have anything to confess, Steven Rogers?" Tony said, assuming a stern tone.

"This isn't the time, Tony," Steve said, the flush fading from his face. "I need to tell you about Bruce."

"So Captain America doesn't kiss and tell?" He caught the small startled expression that Steve made before he smothered it, and Tony started to laugh.

"Really, Rogers? Have you and Bruce been kissing? I think I'm jealous." If Tony hadn't had his Pepper, he'd have been all over Bruce. It was fascinating that Steve had the same thoughts. Tony was going to owe Clint money now.

"How do you do- Never mind." Steve took Tony by the shoulders. "Just stop talking and listen. Bruce is gone. He left this morning to go back into hiding."

Damn it, he should have told JARVIS to let him know if Bruce left the building.

"JARVIS, can you confirm that Bruce is not in the building?" Maybe Steve was wrong. Bruce was probably still sacked out. He was just catching up on rest from changing into the big guy and beating the snot out of Loki and his space pals four days ago. JARVIS kept Tony informed about Bruce's sleep habits and Tony made no excuses for invading Bruce's privacy. Bruce, and the team, would assume it was because Bruce might change into the Hulk. Bruce and the other guys would be wrong about that.

"Captain Rogers is correct; Doctor Banner is no longer within Stark Tower."

Tony jumped up from the stool, shrugging off Steve's hands. "Well, let's go get him and bring him back. I know Fury spooked him, but he doesn't have to run. Not any more."

"Tony." Steve said it like he was breaking bad news gently; and no. Fuck that shit.

"Do you know where he went? I can get there fast in the suit, talk him down off the ledge."

"I don't know where he went, Tony."

JARVIS announced, "Sir, he left the Avengers a video message and instructed me to play it six hours after he departed."

Steve put a hand on Tony's shoulder again. "JARVIS, ask Clint and Natasha to join us in... Tony, what room? Somewhere where we can watch Bruce's message and maybe use your computers?"

Tony shook off Steve's hand. "How the fuck did you find out about this, Rogers?"

"Tony, calm down." Tony hated that reasonable tone in Steve's voice. He narrowed his eyes at Captain fucking America.

"Did he tell you he was leaving and you kept that to yourself?" He used the tone of voice he saved for members of the Armed Services Senate committee.

"Not directly. He wanted me to have plausible deniability."

Tony exploded. "Son of a bitch! Fuck you and your plausible deniability. I could have helped him, talked him out of his panic attack, for God's sake. You should have called me!"

"It's not about what you want, Stark. I didn't want him to leave, but it wasn't my decision. I'm sorry, Tony. It's not your decision either." Steve had lifted that adamant chin of his, but his voice was caring, concerned. Tony wanted him to yell back, to make himself a target for Tony to aim his rage towards. But damn it, Steve was just absorbing Tony's anger, siphoning it away from him. But Bruce. . . a fucking fugitive again? Tony just wasn't having that.

He poked Steve in the chest. "I'm going to find him and bring him back here. He's a genius; he belongs in the best labs money can buy, not out there washing dishes for a living. The sheer waste of that man's talents- I'm furious."

"I need to update the others, Tony. What room?"

Tony scowled. "JARVIS, have our two spies meet us at Conference Room Sixty. And ask Pepper to join us there. Tell her I need her. Are you going to help me get him back, Rogers?"

Steve slowly shook his head. "I want to hear what Bruce has to say. I don't know his exact reasons for leaving, but I do know he believed he had no choice."

Tony frowned again. "He should have talked to me. My lawyers can take care of the legal stuff."

"He didn't leave for himself, Tony. I think he left for us. I'm sorry, he knew this would be hard on you."

Tony fisted a hand and drove it into his other palm. "You should have let me know what he was doing. He's got no money, nothing, really. Even the clothes on his back are probably mine."

The first flush of anger was fading now. Tony felt like his emotions had been tossed in a dryer; they were all tumbled together and still spinning around and around. "All right, all right. Let's go watch his farewell speech. Maybe I can figure out where he's going from what he says."

Steve put his hand on Tony's shoulder and squeezed. This time, Tony didn't shrug him off.


	2. Bruce's Message

**Chapter Two. Bruce's Message**

"All right, JARVIS. Play it," Tony said, and sat down by Pepper. Cap had asked them to hold their comments and questions until after they'd watched Bruce's video. Natasha and Clint and Steve had already claimed chairs at the conference table before Pepper had briskly walked into the room, her high heels clicking against the floor. Tony had been too wound up to sit quietly, so he'd waited for Pepper out in the hallway.

The air shimmered for a moment, then firmed up. He was looking into Bruce's room, judging by the battered backpack on the floor. It was 2:30am according to the numbers on the bedside clock. The focus changed a little and he could see Bruce, sitting on his rumpled bed wearing his oh-so-rumpled blue Indian shirt and shabby trousers. Bruce looked up from staring at his hands and smiled with that wry expression that was just so Bruce it hurt Tony a little to see it.

Bruce gave a little wave of his fingers. "Umm... hi, guys. JARVIS said he would let you know about this message after I left, so I'm assuming you know I've taken off."

He ran his hand through his curls and looked apologetically at the camera. "Hope I, ah, haven't been caught." He started fiddling with the hem of his long shirt with both hands, rolling it up a little and then smoothing it out.

"So. Thanks. And, um, sorry. Natasha, I am sorry about the helicarrier. I know that isn't going to stop you from having nightmares. Me, too." He worried his lip for a moment, then took a deep breath. "You see the other guy's face, probably, but I see yours. So, I'm sorry."

Bruce dropped his eyes again briefly, and then looked back up. "Tony, I couldn't stay. I was tempted, but not because you offered to give me a lab. A job, security. All of your generosity, it's, well..." He chuckled briefly, sounding honestly amused. "Actually, it's been sort of overwhelming, like this madcap fairy godfather suddenly adopted me. Hey, you know? Steve drew pictures of us. You should maybe look at them. And... thanks for trusting me to come back to fight."

Bruce was silent for a moment or two, then said softly, "It would have been nice, to stay."

Bruce rolled his eyes and then shook his head while a grin emerged. "Clint, I hope you've won whatever bet you made on me staying or going. If you did, you owe me another beer. Drink it for me, okay? And thanks, for, uh, explaining about my code name."

He stopped playing with the hem of his shirt and scrubbed his hands through his hair and over his face. He looked so tired. Tony wondered where the hell he was now, broke, exhausted, hunted. He was a fucking hero. It should never have come to this, that Bruce Banner, genius, was on the run again. He should have been given the fucking key to the city.

Bruce's voice, soft and awkward sounding, interrupted Tony's thoughts. "I doubt that Thor is with you guys, but, Thor, if you do ever listen to this... goodbye. I don't actually remember a lot of the battle with the Chitauri, but I do remember us fighting together to take down a leviathan. And, uh, sorry about the other guy swinging at you. And for what Loki's put you through."

Bruce cleared his throat and Tony noticed how Bruce kept running one finger over the knuckles of his other hand. So making this video wasn't just a walk in the park for Bruce, because the way he moved his hands was clearly communicating that he was stressed.

"Steve. I was glad to meet Captain America. I guess I was like most kids and wished I could be as good and as brave as you. And you are, but I really like that I met Steven Rogers, too. You've got a gift with your art and I hope you keep drawing." His expression altered, looking almost shy. "I don't know if it happened this way, but I plan to ask if you want to go with me to the Met to see your exhibit. I'm going to leave from there, but I thought maybe you might like a friend around when you look at the drawings you made during WWII."

Bruce looked up, and said, "JARVIS, please unlock my files and make them available when this video is watched. Thank you. And thank you for helping me."

Bruce fell silent, and one hand pushed through his curls.

"You guys can look at the files if you need to see the sources for my decision, but I'm leaving for a couple of reasons. For one, the Hulk is going to hurt the Avengers being accepted as a legitimate group formed to protect this world. If you read my files you'll see the reaction to the other guy in the media and people's blogs. JARVIS crunched the numbers for me, and I think people are always going to be afraid of him, scared that he'll hurt not just the bad guys, but whoever is around during any future fights. You guys don't need my baggage making things more difficult for you."

Bruce sighed. "Tony, this is mostly for you. And don't blow me off, okay?"

He plastered on a stern look, eyebrows drawing closer. "I know you've got a lot of influence and you probably have the best lawyers in the country."

Pointing a finger at the camera, Bruce went on. "I mean this, Tony. So listen." He stressed the last word, painfully sincere.

"It's not going to be enough. I did my homework, and you can't rescue me. I haven't been charged again with being a domestic terrorist, but that's going to change. It's not a matter of if, but when. And when starts as soon as I become the Army's problem again. If you're seen as supporting me, and that means shelter, food, a job, paying for lawyers, any sort of support, then you're liable for charges, too. Your assets can be seized. The government can get its hands on Stark Industries. Your Iron Man suits. None of this has to go through court for it to happen. I'm not letting you take this kind of risk. Don't be careless and think the government won't take you on because you're Iron Man. They'll do it because you are Iron Man and you've defied them about turning over your research and suits."

Bruce shook his head. "I suppose somebody listening is going to point out that if I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. my legal problems would go away. I'm not convinced of that. But the main reason I'm not turning myself in to S.H.I.E.L.D. is that I can't afford to trust them to not experiment on me. My blood is dangerous. More than just the exposure to gamma radiation if you handle it. Ross and his kind will use it to continue experimenting with genetic manipulations, changing human beings, because they want the Hulk's strength. Worse than me could be created if they have access to my body."

Bruce shrugged and said, "Maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. would leave me alone, just expect me to help out the Avengers and do research, but they built a cell to keep me captive. I can't trust them and take that chance. I can't."

His expression shifted back to that wry smile again. "I'm caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, a rock and a hard place. So, I'm leaving. Please, respect my wishes and don't try to find me. Let me say that again, so that Tony pays attention. Don't try to find me. S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Army will expect you to do it and will try to track me through you. I'll be okay. And you guys, you stay safe and fight the good fight. But, and I'm really trusting you not to abuse this, if you have a situation where I would really be needed or the other guy would be really needed, send a Code Green message out through the media. If I can, I'll come."

He shifted his legs, brought them up on the bed to sit cross-legged. "Fury can see this video. So can Ross. Uh, if they see this you'd better add something only we would know to that Code Green signal. I want it clearly understood that I left here today without telling anybody what I was doing. Nobody conspired with me, nobody smuggled me out. I left openly without anyone's help. And that was my right, since I haven't been charged with anything at this time."

He arranged his hands in the classic pose for meditation, palms up and open on his knees. "So, kids, thanks for asking me to play. I won't forget any of you."

He closed his eyes and JARVIS kept filming for a short time, while Bruce deepened his breathing and sat so very quietly. Tony wanted to curse, wanted to pull Bruce to his feet and hug him and yell at him, because Tony could beat those legal charges with one hand tied behind his back.

The volumetric screen went dark.

Tony stood up and with dramatic gestures threw open Bruce's files so they all could see them. Everyone else pushed out of their chairs, standing in a loose circle around the files hanging in the air. Clint snagged one and brushed his hand over it so he had his own copy. Pepper did likewise. Steve opened one of the originals and started skimming it.

Tony said angrily, "Alright. What happened here? I'd really like to know why JARVIS and Captain America let Bruce just run away without even trying to help him with his problems."

"Sir, Doctor Banner made a careful and considered decision."

"And you didn't let me in on what he was up to, JARVIS. I'm still waiting to hear a reason."

"Might I remind you, sir, that you programmed me to use my own judgment, unless you give me a direct order. You did not. Doctor Banner's actions protected you. I concurred with his reasoning, considering the current situation regarding him and the Hulk. I did not, however, enjoy watching him choose exile."

"JARVIS, do you have eyes on him now?" Tony asked hopefully.

"No sir. Doctor Banner requested that I not track him."

Steve said, "Tony, I want Bruce on the team, but he made his decision-"

Tony didn't let him finish. "So what if he's got people scared to death of him right now. That can be turned around. We start a line of Hulk plushy toys; we do some god-damned PR work. Banner's story gets told the right way, and people are going to see a tragic hero. The Avengers do some interviews and talk about how the Hulk saved this city twice over. If the right people interviewed him, he'd win people over just by being himself."

Pepper breathed out a sigh. "Oh, Tony."

"I can fix this, damn it," Tony said to her, and even he could hear the pain in his voice. "I just need to use the right tools."

Natasha opened a new file with a controlled, tight movement of her hand. "I knew he was leaving this morning. I chose not to stop him or notify S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury won't be pleased."

"You knew and didn't-" Tony shot accusing looks at the group, then settled on staring at Natasha. "Bruce doesn't lie, so he didn't tell you either, did he? He's not exactly the Sphinx, I'll grant you that, so you what? Could tell by the expression on his face?"

Natasha gave him a deadpan look.

Tony threw his arms up in the air. "Did everybody know he was going except me?"

Clint stopped reading and waved his hand. "Nope, I missed the memo, too. Nat? You figure it out this morning practicing with him?"

She gave a slight shrug of her shoulder and said something softly in Russian.

"Da," Clint said. "If he decides to trust S.H.I.E.L.D. and if Fury can keep Ross from taking over."

Tony frowned. "JARVIS, translate what Agent Romanoff said."

"Sir, Agent Romanoff quoted a proverb. 'Every road has two directions', although I would suggest that you ask her what meaning she assigns to those words. Personal interpretation varies so, as you know."

Natasha gave Tony one of the looks she'd perfected when she'd been undercover as his PA. He resisted the urge to duck for cover.

She relented, though, and sighed. "Bruce would not do well here, feeling trapped. Let him fly and he may return."

Steve said, "Natasha and Clint, what's your take on Bruce's situation?"

Natasha shook her head slowly. "For Bruce Banner, there is no choice that isn't dangerous. We know Hydra is interested in him. And he is probably right about General Ross coming after him again. Fury hinted at that during our last meeting. S.H.I.E.L.D., though, asked too much of Bruce in return for their protection. I promised him he would be safe with S.H.I.E.L.D., that he wouldn't be taken and used. Now I'm not sure if that promise could be kept. Fury would fight it, but he could be ordered by the Council to turn Bruce over for experimentation. Although I don't know how they would control him."

She looked at Tony. "Stark, he wasn't wrong about how the Hulk is seen, but you're not wrong, either. He bought you time to sway the public into accepting him."

Clint added, "Reading this?" He waved a hand at the files floating in the air. "Fury left Banner out when he turned loose the S.H.I.E.L.D. spin doctors for the rest of us. Wants to keep strong-arming him, I think, so he'll agree to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s protection."

He tightened his mouth and shook his head. "Could have told Fury that Kwai Chang won't barter his soul. Fury is too cynical sometimes. Swapping sex for survival doesn't mean Bruce would agree to join S.H.I.E.L.D. for protection against Ross and the Army. He wouldn't put other people at risk, if he guessed wrong about S.H.I.E.L.D. experimenting on him."

Steve looked sharply at Clint, and Tony felt his eyes widen. _Oh, Bruce_, he thought, _You had to do that, too_? He'd missed this information, how had he missed this? Mentally, he reviewed the files that S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent him; damn it, they'd left that out. He'd wring the details out of Clint later.

"Tony. I knew, too." Pepper turned and faced him, no trace of the smile he loved on her face. "I spoke with Doctor Banner this morning at his request. 'Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies,' he said, and I knew he was going to leave."

"Pep, I-"

Pepper lifted her chin. "Tony, he made a point of stating I didn't know what he going to do, and he wasn't saying what his plans were. He wrote out a note for S.H.I.E.L.D. to pay his consultant fee to me, and I gave him seven hundred dollars. He also left a letter for your lawyers stating that you do not have his permission to act on his behalf."

"And you didn't tell me what you thought he was up to? Why?" Tony looked reproachfully at her, and then looked at Natasha and Steve. "Why didn't any of you clue me in about what was going on?"

Pepper stood up even straighter in her high heels. "I'm sorry, Tony. I know he's your friend, but obviously Doctor Banner was afraid that you'd talk him out of doing what he thought was right or throw a scene or have him followed. Otherwise, he would have found you to say a cryptic goodbye. And he was right about the danger to you, to Stark Industries."

Steve said, "Miss Potts, you're certain about that?"

She turned to Steve and nodded, then walked over to Tony and caught his hand in her own. "I've read your lawyers' opinions and you would be vulnerable to charges yourself for letting Doctor Banner stay here, sheltering him, if he's charged with being a domestic terrorist. When he researched his options, he saw that. You should respect his wishes and stay out of it." She touched his face, her palm cupping his chin before letting him go.

"Where's that note? Give it to me and I'll tear it up." Tony held his hand out, but Pepper shook her head in refusal.

"No, Tony. I acted as Doctor Banner's agent and I sent it to your lawyers already. I also have copies in safe places. I'm sorry, but I think it's for the best. He's a nice man, but it was dangerous for him to stay here."

If Tony hadn't known Pepper as well as he did, he might have missed hearing the shakiness in her voice. But he did know her, and she was upset. It had to be about Bruce.

"Dangerous for him? Meaning he would be in danger? Or did you mean dangerous for us if he stayed here?" Tony had picked up on things being a little off kilter between Bruce and Pepper but thought it was just some initial awkwardness. Now, though, he was seeing Pepper's actions in a different light.

Pepper bit her lip.

"Were you scared of him, Pep? Worried he'd turn into the Hulk and go on a rampage?" Tony slid his arm around her waist.

She nodded and he tightened his hold. Pepper was the most level-headed person he knew. She'd actually met Bruce and had shared a meal with him. Tony was struck with a new appreciation for the struggle it was going to be to change the public's perception about Bruce if even his Pepper feared him.

Pepper's eyes were wide. She shuddered. "If I think about how he can change from a man to that thing, then yes. He's terrifying. I've seen the footage of what he can do."

Natasha interjected thoughtfully, "Bruce is complicated: quiet, kind, gentle-"

Tony interrupted her. "He wouldn't hurt you, Pepper, he's-" Natasha gave him a look that promised pain in his near future if he didn't stop interrupting her.

Natasha looked at Pepper. "He's brilliant and resourceful, stubborn, and resilient, but he can let you see the Hulk peeking out, if he wants to intimidate you. In Kolkata, he did it to test me. He genuinely doesn't want to hurt people, and even as the Hulk, he normally doesn't attack unless he's attacked first. He does bluster and roar and destroy things to make people leave him alone. His fight or flight reflex dominates him when he's the Hulk."

Pepper shuddered again. "I've tried not to think about him like that, as the Hulk, and look at the man instead. He seems like a sweetheart. And I know he's had a sad life and he's going back to a terrible way to live, but I don't want him under the same roof as me."

Natasha came closer to Pepper and laid her hand on Pepper's arm. She let it linger there, staring hard at Tony when he opened his mouth to defend Bruce. He got the message. He shut up.

Natasha said, "Pepper, on the helicarrier, he did go after me, but Loki's weapon was influencing him. I don't hold him responsible any more than I hold Clint responsible for Loki mind-controlling him. And Bruce had just fallen from an upper deck after an explosion; he was hurt. Dazed and scared. I'm sure he was in pain. He tried to hold back. I could see the despair in his eyes when he realized he was changing. He warned me to run."

Pepper stepped away from Tony, crossed her arms over her chest. "Natasha, he almost killed you. You trapped him in Kolkata, and I think he resented you for that. He didn't really have any other options, did he, if he refused Fury's offer?"

"He's smart," Natasha answered her. "He realized I had backup outside. So no. He had no real options. He could have changed to the Hulk and fought his way clear, maybe. We know bullets only annoy the Hulk, but the agents had tranquillizer guns, too. But Bruce honestly doesn't want to put other people in danger. That's why he came with me, and yes, he resented me for it. He also wanted to help find the Tesseract."

"Bruce as himself might not have wanted revenge, but as the Hulk, he came after you. Tony told me about it," Pepper said firmly. Clint was miming locking his mouth and throwing away the key and pointed at Tony. Tony just shrugged back. He didn't pretend to be a spy like those two, and he'd mostly always told Pepper about everything. Well, except for almost dying, but hey. He'd been trying to be considerate and not worry her.

Natasha shrugged. "I think there's some truth to that. But even though he swatted me, after seeing him fight the Chitauri I know he was holding back. I wouldn't be alive if he hadn't."

"What do you mean?" Pepper asked, dubiously.

"Right before Thor diverted his attention from me, he was thinking of hitting me again."

Tony wasn't sure how she did it, but her tone of voice, the way she moved closer to Pepper, it was like they were the only two people in the room right now. Two women sharing confidences. Natasha was being... very personal now. Another aspect of the Black Widow, he supposed. He didn't think it made what she was saying any less true.

"Pepper, his stance... standing over me, ready with the back of his hand to hit me, well, it wasn't the way a man takes out an enemy. It was the way a man punishes his woman who displeases him. And he hesitated. His expression changed. I don't know, but I hope he was going to stop himself, let me go."

"He's so violent," Pepper whispered.

Natasha nodded. "The Hulk can be, true. But there have never been any reports of Bruce himself being abusive to others, and I know something of his former lover. She would not have continued a relationship with Bruce if he had tried to hurt her. Hulk was imitating someone else, I believe; someone that had hurt Bruce, perhaps, or that Bruce watched abuse others."

Pepper looked unconvinced. Natasha caught her hand and squeezed it. "It's hard, I know," Natasha soothed her. "I know. But Hulk isn't mindless. If he's not goaded into a rage, he can control his actions."

She let go of Pepper's hand and stepped away. The room fell silent, thoughtful expressions on Steve's and Clint's faces.

Steve said, "I want to explain something to Tony. I realized Bruce was going to leave when I tailed him to the Met. He said he wanted to do a test run to see if people recognized him when he went with me to the exhibit. He wasn't recognized. When I told him I knew he was leaving, he became insistent that he had to go, although he refused to actually say it in plain words. Like Natasha, I didn't try to stop him."

Pepper said, "Of course not. He might have transformed to get away."

Steve straightened his shoulders and smiled gently at Pepper. "No, Miss Potts. That didn't concern me at all. Bruce wouldn't do that unless the stakes were a lot higher than his immediate safety or freedom. I didn't keep him from leaving because I'm not going to help coerce Bruce into forced labor of any kind. That stinks of Nazis and Hydra and their callous disregard for human life."

Steve jerked his thumb towards the brightly glowing files hanging in the air. "We'll work on an agenda that will make it safer for Bruce to stay away and to return eventually. As far as I'm concerned, he's still an Avenger, just out on leave. We need more intelligence before coming up with a plan to help him, though. Tony, it's time for us to have that talk about your nimble fingers. Everyone finish reading the files, especially the legal ones. Let's meet back here in an hour, and we'll talk strategy."

x x x


	3. Steve Takes Charge

**Steve Takes Charge**

"I'll take care of Director Fury, Tony," Steve was being all Captain America about this. He looked – spangly, even if he was wearing regular clothes. Tony felt a wave of rebellion rising up at the order Steve had just given, in his firm, 'Captain America is doing the right thing voice.'

Fury had handled Bruce all wrong. Tony wanted to explain in detail to the one-eyed bastard just how much his strong-arming Bruce hadn't worked. He drummed his fingers on the top of the rosewood table, thinking. Across the table from him, Clint was slouched down in his chair, frowning and staring up at the ceiling. He looked a million miles away.

Their little strategy session on how to best help Bruce had concluded with tasks for all of them to do. Tony had to admit that Captain America was as talented and as clear with planning long-term strategy as he'd been with giving them impromptu orders during the Battle of Manhattan. Tony had no problem with Steve taking charge. He had no problem with following Steve's lead for making Bruce's life on the run safer and paving the way for him to return someday, and stay free. Not giving Fury any shit, uh, no.

"Stark, if you indulge yourself in this childish desire to throw a tantrum at Fury, you will undermine Steve's authority. The Avengers will not be seen as a team, but as people just thrown together by circumstance and splintering apart now that the crisis has passed. The director is more willing to listen to Steve. He grew up respecting the legend of Captain America, and should we not give Bruce that edge?" Natasha looked pointedly at Tony, then rose gracefully from the conference room table and poured herself a cup of coffee from the hospitality cart.

He knew she was still watching him from across the room. Damn it. She never tolerated him indulging in dramatic self-expression without calling him on it. And _No,_ he didn't pout when he couldn't have his way. That... no. He wasn't pouting. It was just that usually his way was so much better. _Why_ couldn't other people see that?

He brooded while she sipped her coffee, and now he felt Cap's eyes on him, too. God, double-teamed. Clint sat up abruptly and Tony glanced at him. Clint slowly shook his head. Tony narrowed his eyes, staring at him. Hell, not even Clint was on his side. Clint usually wasn't averse to causing a little mayhem. Maybe he should think this through a little more.

Steve was sitting patiently at the other end of the table. He was giving Tony space to reconsider, he knew Steve was, and he felt appreciative of that and annoyed at the same time.

He rolled around in his mind the likely consequences of unloading his opinion on Fury, and then sighed. He hated to admit it, but he could see Natasha's point. She was a hell of a profiler; nobody could read people like she could.

He sighed again. Loudly. Okay, he'd take her advice. He still wanted to shove his boot up Fury's ass, though. It would have to keep. He nodded at Steve.

Steve rose and walked around the table. He laid his hand on Tony's shoulder. "C'mon, Soldier. Let's go. We can take turns with the punching bag and you can pretend it's Fury's head. I've got to be calmer myself before I talk with him."

That sounded... actually, that sounded kind of attractive to Tony. "Can I draw an eye patch on the bag?"

Steve laughed, and Tony stood up, grumbling, "Okay, okay. Fury's yours. Anyway, I need to put my nimble fingers to use after we're done managing our anger. I'll make sure we know what S.H.I.E.L.D.'s up to concerning Bruce."

"I'm leaving," Natasha said. "I have some contacts in the city that might know why Hydra wants Bruce."

"If you need a hand, call me," Clint told her.

Nodding, she said something in Russian again, and Clint stood up, saying, "I'll meet you in your room. I want to pull some things from Bruce's file first, give Stark a list of people who Bruce helped over the years."

"Send it to Pepper, Clint. She's in her office. She knows PR work forwards and backwards," Tony said, and started walking towards the door, Steve following.

"Yeah, no." Tony and Steve stopped walking and turned around. Clint shook his head. "Bad idea. Pepper's too conflicted; even if she doesn't mean to do it, she's going to come across as ambivalent if she does the talking. She could help you find the right media people to talk to, though. Think she'll want to do that? She clearly prefers that Bruce not come back."

Tony shrugged, not liking the fact that he and Pepper were on different sides of the fence about Bruce. "She'd give me a list. If I asked her to do it, she'd take charge of the PR. She's done other things for me that she hated doing, like, umm... changing out the arc reactor in my chest."

Natasha gave him another death glare. "Which is why you shouldn't ask her to do this. Leave her alone. She can be our canary in the mine. If she changes her mind about Bruce, then you'll know the media campaign is working."

"Clint, just shoot the list to JARVIS, and I'll take care of it without Pepper's help. I'm a genius; I can design a media campaign," Tony said, with a touch of temper.

Natasha gave him a level look, and then nodded at him, and he knew she was trusting him to keep his word.

She stepped close to Steve and caught his hand, squeezed it briefly, then reached over to Tony and gave his earlobe a sharp tug before letting go and walking out the door. Clint went back to the computer station, re-opened a file, and raised it up into the air.

Steve walked briskly to the door and waited for Tony. He opened the door for him and let him pass through first, his manners as much a part of him as his honest face and strong muscles.

They moved through the hallway and rode the elevator in silence, but it didn't feel awkward to Tony. He and Steve were just occupied with their own thoughts. Tony began designing the code for his quiet foray into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s data banks and then his mind drifted to what Bruce had mentioned in his farewell message, that Tony should look at the sketches Steve had drawn of them.

So after they worked out and Tony saw for himself how Steve could totally demolish the best punching bag his money could buy, he'd ask about Steve's art.

x x x

"Sir, Captain Rogers is asking for entrance to your suite," JAVIS announced.

Tony raised his head from Pepper's lap, and placed his Starktablet on the coffee table. He'd been testing his new spy code before sending it S.H.I.E.L.D.'s way.

"Tell him to come on in. Have you found anything in news reports, police reports, about Bruce?"

Tony sat up on the couch and rubbed his face. Pepper yawned, then gave Tony a kiss, before murmuring that she was going to go to bed and to tell Steve she said goodnight.

JARVIS answered after Pepper had left the living room. "No, sir. Nothing conclusive. There are, of course, a steady stream of people who have reported seeing the man who changes into the Hulk, but the majority of those accounts occurred before Doctor Banner left this morning."

"Let me know if he turns up. Hopefully, we can tap into security cameras and get some visual confirmation."

"Yes, sir."

Steve walked in, and Tony waved hello. "Pepper says goodnight. Any news?"

Steve sat down next to Tony and handed him a sketch pad. "S.H.I.E.L.D. still has agents stationed in the lobby. Fury hasn't contacted me either. I'm certainly not going to bring it to his attention that Bruce is gone."

Tony snorted.

Steve continued. "Natasha checked in. She's flying down to Florida, following a Hydra lead. Clint is preparing some red herrings to use if Bruce is sighted, to send people looking for him in a different direction."

Tony waved a hand at his tablet on the coffee table. "I should be able to send our little spy into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s computers before too long. Still running some tests. I've set it so that any mention by S.H.I.E.L.D. of Bruce or the Hulk or the Avengers gets copied to JARVIS. And so far, there's no police or legitimate private sightings of Bruce, as far as JARVIS has been able to monitor."

"I have an idea for your media campaign. I thought I'd polish up one of my sketches of Bruce, and let you use it as you think best," Steve said, a little too casually.

Ah, Steve was concerned about Tony's opinion of his artwork. That was cute, Tony thought, and opened the sketchbook. "Show me, Cap."

Steve flipped the pages, Tony getting quick glimpses of himself and the rest of the team, before Steve halted at a sketch of Bruce right after he'd joined the party on the viaduct in Manhattan.

Tony studied the picture. "He looks so calm going to face that monster." Tony remembered that moment when he'd led the leviathan to the team, but being airborne, he hadn't seen the details of the encounter. Not like Steve had observed it, and Christ, Steve was good. He'd really caught Bruce, disheveled, and showing so much fucking courage by walking out and facing down that leviathan. He looked almost serene, in that backward glance, the monster coming straight at him, and filling up the page.

"You've got some major talent, Rogers. It's a cliché, but that whole bit about a picture being worth a thousand words? Well, how can anybody look at this sketch and not feel something positive about Bruce and the Hulk? He's a god-damned hero."

Steve nodded. "I drew the Hulk, too. Here," and he turned to the next drawing. "Bruce had just transformed. His shirt is still ripping to tatters as he's throwing himself at the leviathan."

Tony admired the Hulk's muscles, and smiled at the expression on the Hulk's face. Bruce liked to distance himself from the Hulk, calling him "the other guy" but he could see Bruce within the Hulk's features. Okay, maybe a more direct, less verbal, and really angry and huge Bruce, but... Bruce. "Put them both together, Cap. Let the public see how Big Green fought to save this world."

"Well, maybe it will help. I'll leave this with you for tonight. Bruce wanted you to look at some of the other drawings I did of you two together." Steve smiled at him and stood up.

Tony's finger hovered over the drawing of the Hulk; he looked up at Steve, feeling troubled. "Do you ever wonder where the Hulk comes from?"

"I know it was from science but to me it seems more like a fairy tale, with Bruce being cursed somehow."

Tony nodded. "His transformations do seem magical. We haven't even begun to touch upon the science involved. Compton Scattering? Dimensional folding? There has to be more than just physics at play. What happened to Bruce to make him so angry that he transformed to this incredible, formidable version of himself when he was blasted with gamma radiation?"

Steve's expression turned thoughtful. "Bruce told me that he's always angry and that's why he can control changing. But I don't think it was always that way. I think after he stopped trying to get rid of the Hulk was when he learned how to manage his transformations. From what S.H.I.E.L.D. let me read about him, in the earlier years Bruce changed when he was in some kind of danger. His body reacted to pain or fear-"

"Like on the helicarrier. Of course, Loki was helping."

"Yes. Or in the past his heartbeat would speed up, then the Hulk would come out. To protect him, I think. Maybe Bruce needed protection when he was growing up -"

"And he didn't get it." Tony pictured a small boy, with big brown eyes and curls galore, scared and mistreated. "I think that Clint knows more about Bruce than we do. Let's talk to him tomorrow."

"There was something Clint said this afternoon that's been bothering me a lot. He said Bruce traded-"

"Sex for survival." Tony scowled. "It makes me want to find him and make sure he never has to do things like that_ ever_ again. You're such a Boy Scout, Rogers, I'm never sure what kinds of sordid stuff you were exposed to before being thawed out."

Steve looked evenly at him. "My father drank himself to death and sometimes, when he'd had a snootful, he shoved me and Mama around."

"Son-of-a-bitch."

"It was a long time ago. Even to me, it was a long time ago," Steve said softly.

"My Dad talked about you a lot. He didn't tell me your dad was an alcoholic, though. Probably a little too close to home to mention."

Steve looked sharply at Tony, but didn't make any comments about Howard Stark's drinking habits. Tony wasn't sure he was grateful for that or not. From what he'd learned, it seemed like his dad had changed a lot from the man Steve had been friends with, back in World War II.

Steve crossed his arms. "After Mama passed, I went to an orphanage. Some of the other children told me about what had happened to them. Some had families that used to beat on them. Boys and girls were forced to have sex with relatives or they ran away and became prostitutes before they were sent to the Home. We had child abuse during the Depression and the Forties, Tony. Maybe it wasn't talked about or reported as much, but I'm very aware of how much children can be hurt by others."

"Maybe the Avengers could donate some of the money from the toys to groups who work with abused kids." Tony stretched his arms, thinking about pre-serum Steve in an orphanage. He'd have been tiny. Probably got his ass kicked on a regular basis for sticking up for what he thought was the right thing.

"That's a good idea." Steve smiled at him and Tony felt his mouth curving up in response. Another one of Captain America's superpowers, that smile.

"Pepper handles all of Stark Industries' charities," Tony said. "I'll talk to her about helping with this."

Steve rubbed one hand on the back of his neck. "Let's mention it to the others first, after we do what we can for Bruce."

Tony flashed on Bruce's self-deprecating smile. It was a wonder Bruce didn't stay the Hulk all the time, given all the shitty things that had happened to him.

"God. Bruce. He's a doctor, a biophysicist. He puts the 'G' in genius. He should never have had to give assholes sex so he could survive." Tony said.

"I know," Steve said firmly, his eyes finding Tony's. "And I'm not shocked that Bruce has had to sell his body. I just really hate the thought that he was forced to make those decisions. I want him to be safe as much as you do. You asked me earlier today if I respected Bruce. It's because I do, that I accepted his decision to leave."

Tony made a plaintive noise and flopped back against the couch. "I know that. I'm just a selfish bastard. I want him here, working with me. It's, it's like seeing an expensive, specialized tool being used to pound rocks. His life is being wasted out there. Bruce is brilliant, he should be treated like a national treasure. I hope this plan to gain him amnesty works, Cap."

Steve sat back down, half turned on the couch to face him. "Being a doctor must be important to him, too, Tony. I doubt he feels he's wasting his time by treating people who don't have medical care."

"Not helping, Steve. Hell, if he would come back I'd fund a free clinic for him, if he wanted to keep treating the poor. And confession time: I'm feeling guilty for designing weapons to capture the Hulk. You watched the footage from Culver University, too, didn't you?"

"Yes. It was part of the briefing on Doctor Banner from Director Fury."

"Those sonic cannons that almost took the Hulk down? I made them. I made Bruce feel pain." Tony remembered Bruce sitting on the bed in Tony's room, talking to him about it. Bruce hadn't been angry with Tony, though. He should have been.

"Did you know the Hulk was Doctor Banner?" Steve asked.

"Didn't have a clue. Or that the Hulk was even human. I should have investigated more before agreeing to the contract."

"You thought he was a monster."

"Yes." Tony made a sound of disgust. "Watching the film, I could see the Hulk fighting against the sonic waves, and the cannons were working, he was immobilized – the theory is sound – but then the Hulk gathered strength from somewhere, got up, and escaped. Bruce isn't even mad at me for building those weapons for General Ross."

"If the Hulk came from within Bruce, then when he's the Hulk Bruce must be within that giant muscular body. That quality you described, the Hulk finding the strength to keep resisting the cannons – that's Bruce."

"Well, he gave up on _himself_ at one point. I worry about that, too. What if he does figure out a way to outsmart the Hulk and tries again to kill himself? He's been so alone the last six years. Even if he did make some friends, he couldn't really be straight with them about who he really is. He would have left them behind to run again, and start over. Over and over and over. Here, he'd have us to keep him from feeling blue. And turning green."

Steve did that 'Captain America is with you' thing again with his eyes and his chin. "We're going to achieve this mission, Tony. Don't get disheartened. I told Bruce he became an Avenger when he rode up on that motorcycle and joined us in battle. Maybe knowing we consider him a teammate will help him to hang on."

Sighing, Tony said, "He didn't sound like he was ever considering coming back, unless we needed him to fight or needed his scientific razzle-dazzle again."

"And what do you think the odds are that we won't run into something as crazy as Loki and the Chitauri invading us? I think we'll see Bruce again." Steve smiled at him, and it was something gentle this time, and warm, and reassuring. A Steve Rogers smile, somehow, not a Captain America one.

Steve pushed himself up from the couch. Tony followed his example and walked Steve to the door. Before he stepped into the hallway, Steve paused and grasped Tony's shoulder and gently rocked him a little before letting go.

"Goodnight, Soldier. I'll pick up my sketchbook in the morning."

"Soldier? Are you kidding me?"

Steve just grinned at him before leaving.

Tony belatedly remembered Steve calling him that earlier, during their strategy session, and had the unsettling suspicion that he'd just been saddled with a new nickname.

He wondered where Bruce was sleeping tonight, if he even had a roof over his head.

x x x

Hours later, Pepper was warm and soft beside him in the bed, but sleep still eluded him. This was the time, when he would be so tired, that his failures haunted him. This night, he kept seeing the sonic cannons dragging the Hulk down, and Bruce, shoeless, shirtless, only rags around his groin, walking slowly along a dark road.

x x x


	4. Clint Spills the Beans

**Chapter Four. Clint Spills the Beans**

Clint whipped an arrow out of his quiver and in a smooth practiced motion sent it flying towards the moving target. He had to give Tony Stark points for doing exactly what he said he would. This practice room was state-of-the-art. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s was shabby in comparison. Of course, most of the other agents didn't use a bow like he did as his primary weapon, so the bow-and-arrow stuff wasn't exactly high on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s priority list for agent training.

When the arrow embedded itself exactly where he'd planned it to land on the eighteen-sided foam target, he allowed himself a small nod of satisfaction. Then he kept his hands and eyes busy emptying his quiver, repeating the same perfection.

This was how he kept himself cool. Nat liked to soak in hot water and do martial arts, Stark tinkered with his robots and suits, Cap demolished punching bags and drew shit, and Thor liked calling the lightning to his hammer and singing drinking songs while quaffing down impressive amounts of beer. That little bar in Puente Antiguo should put up a sign, "Thor Odinson drank here." Maybe the extra business would offset the cost of rebuilding what Thor and Selvig had busted up in their exuberance. He grinned, remembering the story Selvig had told one night to some of the other scientists on the P.E.G.A.S.U.S. Project about that epic night of drinking.

Not that Selvig had known he was listening. He'd been hidden up high, observing the guy. Something about the man had triggered a sense of caution about him when they'd met. Selving wasn't right, but at the time he hadn't been able to figure out what was wrong with him. Selvig had been leery of him, too.

In hindsight, it wasn't much of a mystery. Loki'd had his claws into Selvig's brain since the showdown between Thor and Loki in New Mexico. Loki had made the scientist his minion. Not entirely, it turned out, and Clint had to hand it to Selvig for building a back door for control of the tesseract. He'd helped make Loki's defeat possible.

Clint hadn't been able to do anything comparable to that when he'd been brainwashed by Loki. Although he hadn't taken a head shot to Fury when Loki stole the tesseract. So, maybe in a small way, he'd kept one tiny corner of his mind free. It didn't really change anything.

Compromised. He'd been compromised with a capital C. He was so grateful to Natasha for vouching for his return to sanity so he could help take down that evil son-of-a-bitch.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s shrinks had quite a session with him the day after the Avengers had saved the world. He was scheduled to have some followup ones after he returned to active duty. While Banner had been getting his beauty sleep in, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s psych operatives had grilled and debriefed the rest of them. Clint, though, had received special attention. He'd never been chatty with the psych guys before, so he worked hard to stay in character. He'd managed to convey the right amount of regret over the destruction and lives lost that had been his fault. Guilt, sure, but not so much that it was crippling him. He'd been a victim of Loki's manipulations. That was what he told the shrinks, lacing his reluctant words with clenched fists and silences. He didn't trip any of the flags embedded in their questions that indicated he was suicidal or at risk for doing stupid shit like punishing himself, or going off on a drinking bender. In short, he was coping satisfactorily.

He could read people, and he knew the shrinks were buying his act. And it was an act. He wasn't okay with what had happened. Loki had raped his mind. Forced him to turn against his own people. It was going to take some time and effort to put that behind him, he knew. He could function as well as ever, though, and he wasn't going to be sidelined until he was over it. Him and emotional trauma were old buddies.

Bruce had learned to go the meditation route, and from all the reports it did seem to help him gain some peace of mind. Clint didn't think he'd like it. He wanted to be able to keep moving, or if he was still, he wanted to be positioned where he couldn't be surprised and had the advantage of being on high ground. He could never just sit in easy reach of an enemy with his eyes closed, like he'd seen Bruce doing.

Clint was the one who volunteered to climb trees and poles during missions; he knew other agents made jokes about him being in his eyrie when he went high. Actually, he liked that imagery.

After he'd picked off the entire other team by himself during a training exercise by using the air ducts at a training facility, he was something of a legend to the rookies. Trainers sometimes borrowed him, if he was in-between missions, to shoot harmless arrows at the baby agents during instructional sessions. Those were good times. Clint liked fun. He really did. So when he wasn't in the middle of an operation, he liked to joke and bet and hang out with Nat, if she was around. Or bug Coulson.

And now, he liked this team he'd joined. His knack, the one he was careful not to mention to, well, almost everyone, had vetted all of the Avengers as being good guys.

Of course, he'd already made that call about Natasha and Bruce and Thor long before Loki tried to enslave the world. It was why he'd brought Natasha into S.H.I.E.L.D. and enlisted Coulson to help free her from the brainwashing she'd been under since she was a little girl. He'd known she could be redeemed, and he'd risked everything to save her.

Bruce, well, he'd been the guy's watcher for all those long weeks in Guatemala. The first time it was his turn to be primary on the Hulk watch, he'd felt that tingle in his brain that told him his knack was curious about the guy who was the Hulk. If he hadn't seen the videos he never would have guessed that the short American with the dark, curly hair was him. The guy just looked harmless, his glasses sliding down his nose whenever he put them on to look at something more closely. A thermometer, for example.

Clint, in disguise on the ramshackle bus with Bruce, watched him rock a baby to sleep in his arms while the sick and exhausted mother he'd treated with medicine slept as they traveled to a new town.

He'd probably would have come to the same conclusion without going with his knack, since Bruce really was a good man. Nobody on the observation team wanted to see him hurt. Bruce did manage to engender a fair amount of exasperation among the other agents, though, as the help he gave to people in need often landed himself in hot water. He was fairly good about getting himself back out of it, but he'd made more than one agent curse Bruce's humanitarian impulses.

When he'd seen Bruce Banner ride up on that motorcycle to join them to fight Loki and the Chitauri, he hadn't been surprised that Bruce would help. He'd been a little amazed at Bruce's appearance, was all, since Natasha had told him the Hulk had jumped out of the helicarrier and they didn't know where he'd landed. At the time, the helicarrier had bigger problems than tracking the Hulk, or Banner, if he'd changed back.

His knack had started to kick in when he'd seen Thor fighting so hard to get to his hammer back in New Mexico. He felt that surge of understanding and he'd said into his mic that Coulson had better call it, because he was starting to root for this guy. He'd known that Coulson would get the message that this one was a thumbs up. Hopefully, then Coulson wouldn't order him to shoot the big blond galoot dead.

Coulson knew about his little gift. They'd had one very cryptic conversation about it, in which Coulson let him know that he knew Clint was tapping into something a little more than just a gut feeling whenever he gave a thumbs up or thumbs down on someone. Luckily for Clint, Coulson got a huge thumbs up, and Clint trusted him with his life. He certainly was trusting him with his secret. Clint didn't like to think of himself as maybe being tagged with the "M" word.

S.H.I.E.L.D. knew a lot about people who had manifested some kind of mutant talent. Some of them had banded together for support and tried to use their talents for the good of their communities. Some of them used their talents to become criminals. So far, S.H.I.E.L.D. had worked hard to keep that kind of knowledge from the public. After this week, he suspected that it would be harder to keep a lid on the wacko talents some people had, if they became problems. There was even a special prison that had been nicknamed, "The Vault," designed to keep those criminal mutants from breaking out. Clint knew it was in the Rockies somewhere. If he hadn't quit fucking up his life he might have ended up there himself.

Natasha knew too, although they'd never had any awkward conversations about it. He just knew that she knew and accepted his gift as part of the Clint Barton package.

"Master Barton, I have a message for you from Captain Rogers and Sir."

JARVIS's voice stopped him from brooding on that unhappy end to freedom, if he hadn't started listening to his knack and letting it guide his choices in life. Loki had said that he had heart, and he guessed maybe the bastard's magical talents had recognized Clint's gift.

"Okay, lay it on me, man. And it's just Clint, okay? I can't really picture myself as being Master Barton." Clint walked to the foam targets and started retrieving his arrows, looking them over for any damage before placing them back in his quiver.

"I've informed Captain Rogers and Sir that you haven't had breakfast yet, and they would like to know if it's agreeable to you to meet in the Avenger's Kitchen."

"The one where Steve and Bruce cooked us steaks?" Clint highly doubted that Tony had phrased JARVIS' polite request that way at all. He'd probably said something like, _Tell Barton to get his ass up here; Steve's making coffee_.

"Yes, Clint."

"Tell'em I'm on my way."

He trotted out the door and decided to jog up the stairs. He might be on stand-down for three weeks, but he couldn't afford to let his training slide.

x x x

Tony was scrambling eggs when Clint jogged into the kitchen. Steve actually was making coffee and stopped measuring coffee grounds into the basket of the coffee maker to smile at Clint.

"I've been trying to talk Tony into getting a percolator like I used to have in my apartment in Brooklyn, but he says nobody uses them anymore. Is that true?" Steve asked, a little skeptically.

Clint shrugged. "Pretty much, at least in the States, but people use them when they go camping or if the electricity goes off. S.H.I.E.L.D. had one we used on Hulk watch. Bruce would make coffee with grounds tied into a rag. He seemed to like it well enough."

Tony turned off the stove. "I suppose that's just another thing Bruce will go back to doing now." He didn't sound happy about it.

Swiveling to face them, Tony said, "Eggs are done, help yourself. Steve, we live in a world full of technological miracles and that coffee machine is one of them. Hurry up, okay? I'm dying for a cup."

Clint noticed that it was a Stark Industries model. "Looks like that one's got a lot of bells and whistles, Tony."

Steve grinned at Clint, pushing buttons, and the sound of water gurgling through the machine began. "Tony showed me how it works. Coffee will be done soon."

Tony patted the coffee machine fondly. "I'll be test driving my latest coffee machine pretty soon down here. You guys can be my lab rats. Did I tell you that it can be programmed to play music to tell you when your coffee is ready?" He got down a plate and dished himself up. Grabbing a fork from a drawer, he dropped into a chair and began eating.

Clint filled plates for himself and Steve, joining Tony at the table. Steve murmured thank you to Clint, then slid into his own seat.

The eggs were actually pretty good. Tony had added in green and red peppers, onions and cheese, and he'd made plenty.

Steve got back up and filled mugs for all of them, and Tony made a contented sound after his first sip.

Clint had finished breakfast quickly and was about to get up to leave when Steve caught his eye.

"Clint, the information in the files S.H.I.E.L.D. gave us on Bruce was minimal. You seem to know a lot more about him, and if you could brief us it would be helpful."

Tony added, "Yeah. I don't want any surprises being revealed later that we're not prepared to handle for the media campaign. So, c'mon, dish up the dirt on our dear, departed Doctor Banner."

Steve frowned disapprovingly. "Tony, you make it sound like he's passed away. Are you that angry with him for leaving and not telling you first?"

Clint just sat quietly and watched the Captain America and Iron Man show. Nat had told him that these two had clashed at first, while the team was just beginning to pull together. Right now, Tony had sounded, well, a little bitter, mixed with a liberal sprinkling of hurt and obnoxious.

"He could have told me," Tony muttered. "I would have taken him anywhere he wanted to go." He drank the rest of his coffee, and didn't look at Steve at all.

"He wanted to protect you, Tony. He was worried about you, and he did what he thought was best. But you can take it up with him when he comes back." Steve moved to the counter and brought back the coffee pot. He filled Tony's mug and his own and looked inquiringly at Clint.

Clint nodded, and within moments his taste buds were in heaven again. Tony bought the good beans, and his coffee was about a hundred times better than the sludge S.H.I.E.L.D. usually offered its agents. He thought there must be a rule that all bureaucratic organizations had to buy the cheap shit. He'd call Coulson this morning and mention his new conspiracy theory. Coulson wouldn't laugh, he never did at Clint's jokes and wild-ass speculations, but Clint knew that the corner of his mouth would turn up and Clint would have been able to read the amusement in his eyes. It had taken him a few weeks to see that look in his handler's expression, but once Clint had cracked the code he could read Coulson like a book.

Coulson probably needed to hear Clint shovel some bullshit his way, bored and stuck as he was in his hospital bed. It would be like donating to charity. Clint had called him the day they'd all trooped into Tony's tower, and he'd bent Coulson's ear grousing about being kicked out of headquarters. Anticipating his next move, Coulson had made Clint promise not to sneak into the medical ward to visit him. Clint was still miffed about that.

Steve laid a hand on Tony's shoulder and startled, Tony half-turned to look at Steve.

"_Are_ you angry with Bruce?" Steve asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"No! Yes. Maybe? It's complicated," Tony said, making air quotes around the last word.

"Tony..." Steve said quietly.

"Well," Tony exploded, "he wouldn't even let me try to help him, and that pisses me off. I'm going to get even with him, though, for dumping me. All those reasons he listed in his heartfelt little video, I'm going to demolish each and every one. And then when it's safe for him to come back and our 'The Hulk is a Good Guy' campaign is working, then I'm going to have a conversation with the good doctor."

Clint said mildly, "Good luck with that. He's not bad at hiding."

"I'll find him. And I'll talk him into coming back." Tony sounded calmer, and Steve let him go and sat back down.

"Clint, what should we know about Bruce? I assume Tony or you can get us the uncensored file S.H.I.E.L.D. has on him, but for now just talk to us," Steve said.

"And besides the CliffsNotes, cough up anything else you know that's not in the file," Tony commanded.

"CliffsNotes?" Steve looked mildly puzzled. Poor guy must run into twenty references a day he didn't get.

"JARVIS, care to do the honors?"

"Of course, Sir. Captain, according to Wikipedia, CliffsNotes are a series of student study guides that present and explain literary and other works in pamphlet form or online."

"Okay, now that Cap's had his vocabulary lesson for the day, spill the beans, Clint," Tony ordered. "JARVIS, audio record and transcribe this and send it to my Hulk media campaign folder, file 'Green Kimble.' Steve, just consider the name 'Kimble' to be a synonym for fugitive."

Clint walked over to the coffee machine and refilled his mug, then glanced at Steve and Tony sitting at the table, lifting the coffee pot to ask if they wanted any more, too. They didn't, and Clint looked thoughtfully at them, organizing his thoughts on Bruce. He rejoined the other two at the table.

"Okay." He took a hefty swig and swallowed. "Let's start with how Bruce handles being on the run. He knows how to live cheap, barters with people for food and shelter, clothes. If he's going to be somewhere more than a few days, he'll identify a key person in that community and let them know he's a doctor and is willing to see people for what they can spare, or for free, if they can't. He gets his patients mostly from doing that, but he'll offer his services on his own, too, depending on the circumstances."

Sipping at his coffee for a moment, he remembered Bruce seeing patients in the evening after he would come home from whatever day job he was working, or during the day if he worked an evening or overnight shift.

Tony asked, sounding baffled, "Why does he call attention to himself that way? People would remember a guy who moonlights as a doctor."

Shaking his head, because, damn, he'd wondered that same thing himself when he was on Hulk watch, Clint said, "Well, he doesn't do it all the time. And he didn't see patients at his own place, as far as we know."

"What? He was trying not to leave a bread crumb trail to his hideout?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, something like that. He'd see patients in a makeshift clinic somewhere and did home visits. It's important to him, so much so that he's willing to take the risk. He's not motivated to work as a doctor by the need to make a living. It goes a lot deeper than that for him."

Steve said, "I thought he was working a factory job at a bottling plant when Ross caught up to him in Rocinha."

Clint chuckled sourly. "He was. He'll work any job that needs doing; he's not afraid to get his hands dirty."

Nodding decisively, Tony said, "I'm so dragging him into my workshop and making him show me what he's got."

Clint said, "The manager of that bottling factory? He couldn't say enough good things about how Bruce would keep the machinery from going belly up. Word gets around if he stays put for a while that he can coax dead gadgets back to life. Word gets around like that when he's doctoring folks, too."

Steve said, "He really wouldn't make a very good spy, would he? It seems like people get to know him wherever he ends up."

Clint laughed. "Nah, he's not really an undercover guy. He's not very good about acting stupid, so he'll end up getting promoted fast, or sometimes getting lectured about how he's wasting his talents. Sometimes other workers end up resenting him because of shining like that and they'll take it upon themselves to teach him a lesson. Sometimes that's triggered a transformation. More in the early years than more recent ones. Over time, for the most part, Bruce has learned how to save his own ass without turning green. Cap knows this but I'm not sure about you, Tony. Did you know Bruce has taken some martial arts classes?"

Tony shook his head.

"He's just a beginner, but it's helped him skedaddle out of some tight spots. He also learned how to control his breathing, calm his heartbeat. His Akido instructor in Brazil talked to Coulson after he was convinced that S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't going to hunt Bruce down to kill him."

Steve said, "Kill him?"

"There was a lot of rumors floating around the favela after Ross' extraction team went after Bruce there. His instructor really liked him. Bruce diagnosed his kid correctly after some clinic bungled her care. Saved her life. She had meningitis, not the flu."

Clint looked first at Steve, and then at Tony. "So. Way you guys looked yesterday you didn't know Bruce had to peddle his ass sometimes."

Tony crossed his arms. "No. Fury left that out of the files Coulson gave us."

Clint stared at his coffee cup. Well. Bruce had owned what he'd had to do when he stood up to Fury. He'd understand why Clint had to give up the details. "We know he agreed to sex sometimes in return for being smuggled out of the area, when Ross' team got too close. Or for clothes, food, money. That happened when he transformed and come back to himself naked and lost somewhere. Fuckers liked to brag about it. Sometimes Bruce wrote about it, but, not like the therapists want you to do. It was more like footnotes in his research."

"God," Tony said. "He talk to anybody about it?"

"Not that we know about,"Clint said with a shrug. "He's not afraid to touch people or even kiss them, but he shies away from getting naked and having sex. From a notebook Ross nabbed from a dive Bruce was staying in, we learned he'd been experimenting with his heart rate. Apparently two hundred beats a minute brings the Hulk roaring to life. Whenever he tried to have sex and his heart would speed up, he'd stop. In his notes, he'd written about anxiety being tied in with his heartbeat increasing so much, so it's possible there were some after effects of those deals with those assholes. But he never changed into the Hulk with those men. One of his footnotes said he didn't care about them, so he didn't enter the arousal stage of sex and his heart beat stayed normal."

Clint glanced at Tony. "Do you think if this became public that it would hurt Banner's acceptance even more? Or would it make people sympathetic to him, to learn how desperate he was at times?"

Tony bit his lip. "Would Bruce care if it became public? You know, I've thought about that conversation Fury and Bruce had during our last meeting, and now it makes sense to me. At the time, I was texting Pepper and I thought I'd just misheard them."

Clint said, "I've got pretty good recall. Fury said that Bruce had sold himself before and Bruce answered him that he wasn't as desperate now as he was then. I don't know how much it would tear him up if it became public. You'd better be prepared to spin it in his favor, though, because if Ross leaked that news, he'd say that Banner had been a prostitute. And Ross does know all about it. This happened when Ross was in charge of tracking down Bruce and taking him into custody."

Steve said, "If it's leaked, as a team we'll express our outrage that Bruce was ever hounded like he was, so that he fell victim to unscrupulous men in order to stay free."

Tony said, "The Hulk comes out when Bruce is under severe duress, when he's being attacked, unless he changes on purpose. As far as I could make out with the information S.H.I.E.L.D. gave me, most of the times where Bruce changed to the Hulk were because he was attacked by Ross' units."

"Somebody always attacked him in the other incidents, too," Clint said. "Various assholes. The Hulk is all about survival, and if Bruce is backed into a corner and being seriously hurt - cause he can take it up to a point – the big guy comes out to stomp those assholes like a little kid's big, tough brother kicks a bully's ass. Bruce had gained even more control by the time Natasha scooped him up in Kolkata. The Hulk hadn't been seen for over a year. Damn Loki anyway, for taking that away from Bruce."

Tony sat up straighter in his chair, looking suspicious. "So why did Ross have such a hard-on for Banner following the gamma accident?"

Clint opened his mouth to explain, but Tony kept on talking, making a face like he'd just caught a whiff of dog shit on his shoe. "I know the man, a little, in a professional way," Tony explained. "That was why Coulson sent me to talk to him about recruiting Blonski for the Avengers. I'm glad Ross shot me down. The Abomination would make an awful addition to the team. And before my fun vacation in Afghanistan, I supplied weapons to Ross, some of them special orders, like the sonic cannons to take down the Hulk. Old Thunderbolt Ross is a persistent, sour, stubborn son-of-a-bitch. He's one of the Army's golden boys, and he's got pull like you wouldn't believe."

"I don't understand." Steve said.

"What, Cap?" Clint asked.

Steve frowned. "It was an accident in his lab that changed Bruce. Why wasn't help extended to him, instead of Bruce being hunted down like a rabid dog?"

Tony said, rapid-fire, "You know, the way Ross's gone after Bruce, it really does feels personal. Like he's Captain Ahab and Bruce is the one who keeps getting away." He snapped his fingers three times in a row. "Captain America just asked a very good question, Legolas. General Ross was overseeing the work Bruce and his team were doing, after all. Why did Ross go after him, instead of helping him?"

Clint rolled his eyes, and figured he'd better jump in and answer before Tony started yakking again. "Guess you didn't know. General Ross has a daughter. A very intelligent, very beautiful daughter. I'll give you three chances to figure out who she was sleeping with for years. It's the same guy she was working with to develop the gamma proof serum for the Army. Here's a hint: it was the head of the team, a brilliant scientist who is the world's foremost expert in gamma radiation – are you catching on yet, Tony?"

Steve said, "So it is personal. The honorable thing to do would have been to step down, let someone else handle the Hulk since Bruce was dating his daughter."

Clint nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. "It's more involved than that. Tony, you know that Ross was in charge of the project his daughter and Bruce were working on, but do you know about what the research was based on? Because Ross fucked all of them over."

"Yeah, Ross screwed them," Tony said flatly. "Doctored the records, too. Bruce wasn't trying to make himself into another super soldier like Cap."

Steve started. "He wasn't? Coulson said he was."

Clint said, "Well, to be fair to Coulson, that's the intel S.H.I.E.L.D. was given from the Army records."

"Fucking Ross." Tony looked like he wanted to spit on the ground. "Nah, Cap. Bruce wasn't being an egomaniac or wanting to be your clone. Bruce thought the project was to develop a serum that would keep gamma radiation weapons from harming soldiers. Uh, civilians, too. Ross didn't tell Bruce and the team that the serum was derived from Erskine's super-soldier serum."

"Bruce said something to Nat on the flight from Kolkata and it didn't match up with what S.H.I.E.L.D. had on that whole mess," Clint said. "She had it looked into and looky-looky, guess who was being crooky."

Tony said, "Ross wasn't that interested in developing a way to protect soldiers from gamma weapons. He saw the potential for a different outcome. He wanted to make people into weapons. He put a lot of pressure on the research team to come up with something because the program was going to be shut down unless they got enough results. So, yeah, Bruce jumped ahead instead of running a lot more trials. The whole team gave the experiment a thumbs up, though. And I'd bet anything that Ross authorized Bruce to do that experiment and then covered his ass and made Bruce out to have gone rogue, against Ross' orders."

Clint said, "Betty Ross was hurt pretty badly in the lab accident, and two other scientists on the team died from injuries caused by the Hulk tearing the place up. General Ross was also hurt, but not as severely."

"Ooohhh, personal grudge and resentment because Bruce was sleeping with his daughter. Nice combination for a nutcase like Ross to obsess about," Tony said.

"You got it," Clint said. "Ever since then, he's been after Banner. Our sources tell us that he never liked him, didn't think he was good enough for his daughter."

Steve said, frowning, "Not good enough?"

"Ross is such an ass. Bruce is a real catch," Tony threw in. Then he shrugged. "Or, you know, he was, before the whole gamma thing happened. But if I wasn't in a committed relationship I'd go for him. I'd smooch that wariness of his right off his face. With those lips, I bet he's a great kisser, right, Cap?"

Clint mouthed to himself, "Right, Cap?" and watched color bloom on Steve's cheeks.

"Tony." Steve said, and right then he didn't look like Captain America at all. Just a young, good-looking blond guy, kind of flustered and a little shy.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry. Were we keeping it a secret that you and Bruce played kissy-face?"

Steve's posture straightened and there it was. Captain America was back in the room. "There's a difference between wanting something to be private and keeping it secret because of being ashamed. I'm not ashamed about kissing Bruce."

"Okay, good to know," Clint said, rolling his own eyes.

Steve continued, the blush starting to fade. "I saw him sitting on the steps of the Met, hugging his knees, and I realized he was going to leave. I like him. I wanted a kiss to remember him by. And he asked me to kiss him the second time. So what is it you guys say these days? Something about court?"

Clint said, "So sue me."

Steve nodded. "That's it. So, Tony. Sue me."

Clint said, laughing a little. "He's just jealous, Steve, that you got there first with Doctor Banner."

Tony said, "Do you two have a hearing problem? Committed relationship. As in with a smart, sexy redhead. Not jealous."

Clint said, "Ya know, I don't think Steve has one, but I do."

"You do what?" Tony asked.

"Have a hearing problem. I use a hearing aid in one ear when I'm on a mission."

"You don't wear it all the time?" Steve, no, Captain America asked. He looked like he was filing that information away under Barton, Clinton Francis, codename Hawkeye. Avenger.

"Most of the time I can hear well enough with my good ear, unless I've got a bad cold or something, so I don't need it."

"Let me see your hearing aid sometime. I'll see if I can design a better one," Tony said.

"Sure." It worked okay, but if Stark wanted to turn his genius loose on fiddling with it, then Clint was fine with that.

"So, were you born with a bad ear, or what?" Tony said, curiosity in his voice and on his face.

Steve opened his mouth, and then shut it. Clint guessed he was giving up on trying to rein Tony in. Clint would share with the class, though. He didn't give a shit about keeping it to himself.

"Nah. S.H.I.E.L.D. mission. Big boom."

"Surgery not an option?" Tony asked.

"Nope."

Steve said, "What else should we know about General Ross?"

Clint stretched his arms out and cracked his knuckles. "Well, he has a dislike of scientists, which didn't help endear Bruce to him. He wanted Betty to marry a soldier and kept introducing her to some of the men in his command. General Ross and Betty became estranged after the accident. They still are. Ross blames Banner for that, too. She blames her father for making Bruce a hunted fugitive. She's not shy about stating her opinion, either."

Clint was tired of sitting down and resettled himself by the counter, grabbing apples from a pretty blue pottery bowl. He started juggling them, five at a time. Coulson would have looked at his watch pointedly, and then held up two of his fingers. When his two minutes were up, he'd have looked at Clint and Clint would have dropped the apples back into the bowl, saving one to eat as the meeting went on.

Tony just grinned. "Hey, can you do more apples? How about knives? Ever juggle them? What about fire sticks? Where'd you learn to juggle?"

"Grew up in the circus. Learned lots of shit there. Sure, I can juggle knives and fire."

"Cool. Here, I'll get out the knives." Stark was totally the enabling type, but Cap reached out and kept Tony from getting up.

"Clint, I'm sure you can put on an impressive show, and I'll want to watch sometime, to see how your talents might help us in a battle – or for some good publicity. You could juggle for kids in a hospital, for example. But now's not the time. So take another minute to finish juggling to get it out of your system and let's get back to trying to help Doctor Banner."

Coulson and Steve were going to get along great, Clint thought.

"Okay, Cap. It's just that if I'm not on a mission, I don't like staying put in one place too long with nothing to do with my hands."

He dropped the apples back in the bowl, except for one he lobbed at Tony and the one he kept to eat. He hoisted himself up on the counter and sat cross-legged. He liked being up high. He didn't know why. For as long as he could remember, he'd always preferred it that way.

"Obviously Bruce is good at crossing borders in North and South America. How did he get to Sierra Leone? And to Kolkata?" Steve asked, sending Clint a "time to get back with the program" look.

"He used a fake ID and passport to join a charity medical ship that was in Guatemala. Their next port of call was Freetown in Sierra Leone. Bruce jumped ship there when the charity sailed to the next place. He stayed around Freetown and ended up helping a research group trying to cure Lassa Fever. He used to send them patients. We had one of our agents join the group, and when Bruce started getting itchy feet, he offered him a plane ride to Kolkata and to keep being sort of their agent in the field. They'd take the patients he sent to their clinic, give them more extensive medical care. He did some good work on the research, apparently. Then Fury sent Natasha to bring him in."

Tony said, "He can still work on curing Lassa Fever when he comes back. Well, if he wants to. I can add that research group to my charities list."

"That's all information that shows Bruce in a positive way, helping sick people. That's helpful. What about things that might be seen as shady?" Steve asked, a small furrow showing on his forehead.

"You know, there's not really much, other than turning into the Hulk and damaging a shitload of property. And the deaths. That'll be tough to get past. Shady stuff, hmm. He's pretty decent at hacking, although probably not as good as Stark," Clint said.

Tony bowed his head a little, acknowledging the accolade.

"He's used a lot of fake IDs and he falsified a ton of job applications. Can't see anybody really caring about that." Clint took a bite of his apple.

"Bruce is brilliant," Tony said, and rocked back on his chair so that it was only on two legs, then let it down again. Clint wasn't the only one in that room who could get fidgety after a while.

"Mostly," Clint agreed, "But he doesn't pick up languages very easily. He's better in Spanish than Portuguese, or Krio, Hindi, or Bengali. He tries, though. I've heard him practicing."

Clint added, "He's good with his hands. He was always fixing stuff for people, their washing machines, sewing machines, vehicles, even worked at a monastery as a handyman. Ross found two or three computers he'd built and used to track stuff like Ross' plans, or information to make false IDs. Also he researched the hell out of possible cures. That was what he was doing in Brazil, researching plants from the rainforest. He was corresponding with Sterns, and they were working on an inhibitor. They got partway with it. You know, don't you, that what Sterns synthesized did reverse the metamorphosis, right?"

Tony and Steve both nodded.

"Too bad for Bruce that it's only a temporary fix. His fight with Blonski showed that. Ah, other stuff that would be considered scandalous..." Clint chuckled.

"He took hallucinogens in an experiment when he was getting his M.D. and Ph.D at Harvard. It's how he met Betty Ross. General Ross has groused about that, too, that Banner seduced his daughter into joining that experiment. Like Bruce was Timothy Leary and Betty was his groupie. It's not true, not even a little bit. They each signed up before they met."

Steve's eyes had widened, and Tony was looking intrigued. Clint grinned at them. He thought this story was hilarious.

"Bruce got picked up by the cops one night babbling about gamma radiation after he'd been dosed. The experimenters thought he'd come down from tripping and they let him go home. He hadn't; he'd just hidden that he was still hallucinating."

Tony started snickering. "I can't wait to rib him about this."

Clint chuckled again. "He gets kind of sheepish, when people bring it up now. "

Tony, his eyes lit up with amusement, said, "So what happened? Bruce go to the Pokey?"

Clint said, "Apparently Bruce was meandering around Harvard Square and thought he could actually see gamma ray bursts with his own eyesight, which you can't, and he was overcome with the beauty of it all. He kept telling anybody within listening range about it. When the cops found out he was part of an experiment, they hauled him back to the guy running it, and gave him an earful for letting his doped up subject wander around high as a kite. He didn't go to jail. Bruce got a disturbing the peace citation out of it, but the judge dropped it."

"Why did Bruce sign up for that?" Steve asked.

"Money. Bruce got scholarships and financial aid, but basically he was putting himself through school and he was always broke. And I should make sure you know about his family. That's bound to come up, if anybody really wants to get dirt on him. Not that any of it was his fault, but some people will probably pull the genetics card about it."

Clint noticed how Tony's body language had shifted; he was tense, poised to react. Maybe most people wouldn't have noticed, because Tony's facial expression still radiated only a mildly interested look, but Clint had been a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent for a long time and noticing things like that was second nature to him. And then there was the way he'd grown up. It had left him... well. It just had.

Tony had a trigger about family history, then. Knowing what he did about Tony's family, he didn't blame the guy. Still, unless there was shit that was pretty deeply buried, Tony's father hadn't been near the monster that Clint's dad or Bruce's dad had been. As far as he knew, Tony had never been physically abused by his father. He hadn't met Tony's emotional needs as a child, but he'd never deprived him of food, or medical care, that Clint knew about, anyway. Sometimes families kept those things secret, and even the kids who'd been treated poorly would stay quiet about it.

He never got into "my dad was worse than your dad" one-ups with people. No point. Everybody's experience was unique, and if they were fucked up by it, then they were fucked up by it. God, he and Natasha had gotten really drunk together a couple of times and talked about their childhoods. Well, he talked. She alluded. But they were both survivors, and so was Bruce Banner.

"What about Bruce's family?" Steve asked, and Clint stopped letting his thoughts meander.

"Okay, here we go. Brian Banner, Bruce's dad, was an alcoholic and a mean son-of-a-bitch. I don't know if Bruce became a physicist because his dad was one or not. I'm pretty sure Bruce became a doctor because of his mother.'

"His mother?" Steve asked.

"I'll explain that in a bit. Brian Banner was convinced that his genius was misunderstood and he didn't get along with his co-workers. He took his frustrations out on his wife, Rebecca, and later, Bruce. He thought that he'd been damaged by radiation from the research projects he'd worked on and that when Bruce was born his son was a mutant. I guess we can be grateful that he didn't shake the hell out of Bruce when he was a baby and give him brain damage."

Steve and Tony were staring at him, and Clint remembered from reading a Captain America biography Coulson had in his office that Steve's father had also been an alcoholic. Wow. Looked like Thor was going to end up as the one with the least damaging childhood, and how bent was that? Odin as dad of the year. Century. Millennium. Whatever.

Clint took a deep breath. "The autopsy on Rebecca Banner showed a long history of injuries, fractures. There weren't any records of her being treated at any hospital or at a doctor's office for the injuries that her husband had given her."

You could have heard a pin drop in that kitchen, Clint thought. He guessed all of this was news to them, that Fury hadn't included any of Bruce's family history in the abbreviated file he'd sent to Tony and Steve.

"Yeah. Brian Banner murdered his wife in front of his son. She finally had enough of his drunken beating on her and Bruce. From what they got out of Bruce, his mom was leaving the asshole, taking him with her. His dad beat his mom to death. Stopped her from driving away in the car. Cracked her head on the driveway, then dragged her into the garage."

Tony was trying to bore a hole through Clint with his eyes. Steve nodded at Clint to go on. So he did, feeling again the empathy towards Bruce that he'd felt the first time he'd been briefed on Bruce Banner's background.

"A lot of this was pieced together later by the cops and counselors, but they think she finally decided to get out because of what he was doing to Bruce. See, he'd slap her around and when she'd be down on the floor, he'd grab Bruce and make him hold onto a hammer or a heavy skillet and tell him to hit his mom. He'd call him all kinds of names – monster, freak, mutant – when he wouldn't do it, and then he'd beat the snot out the poor kid. He was sober enough to make sure to do it where any marks would be covered up by Bruce's clothes. Of course, sometimes the poor kid would get bruised on his face or arms anyway when his dad would throw him against the furniture. Told Bruce's teacher that his kid was just clumsy when the teacher called to ask about the bruising. Probably the school would have figured it out eventually. His teacher reported the bruises to the principal and they'd started keeping documentation."

Steve asked, "Didn't they talk to Bruce about what was happening?"

Clint nodded. "They asked."

Steve said, sighing, "But Bruce didn't admit he was being hurt, right? Kids at my orphanage often didn't either."

Clint swallowed down another bite of his apple and said, "Nah. He wouldn't rat his dad out."

"So he lied about it," Tony sighed, too.

"Learned that from his mother probably, since she never called the cops on Brian Banner. Hell, he was only six when his mom died."

"His mother did try to escape, though." Tony was staring at his hands.

"She did. The last straw for Rebecca apparently was when Bruce started fighting back against his dad. He'd go into a rage and try to hit his dad when his dad started hurting his mom or would go after Bruce. His dad thought it was great. He thought it showed Bruce was learning to act like him, and not like a mutant. He was still proud of Bruce fighting him, the bastard, when the cops arrested him."

"So he tried to make Bruce be like him, violent, and make him his ally in hurting Rebecca. What a prince." Tony glanced up at the cupboards and tightened his lips together.

Nodding, Clint said, "Didn't stop him from beating the kid, though."

Clint dropped his eyes down to his hands for a moment. He didn't like talking about this; his own memories of his father smacking the hell out of him and his brother were clamoring for his attention. He shook his head, shoving those memories back down.

"After his dad killed his mom, Bruce attacked him. Just went wild. You can imagine how well that ended. Brian gave his son a mild concussion, a lot of bruises, and a spiral fracture of his left arm. When his dad passed out, Bruce called 911. When the cops and ambulance arrived, they found Bruce sitting with his mom in the garage. She was covered in band-aids and he'd put an ice pack on her head. She'd died hours ago, but Bruce did what he'd always done for his mom after the beatings were over. He played doctor for her."

"Jesus," Tony said. "I need a drink." He cringed as soon as he said it. "God, even I know that was a shitty thing to say. My God, Bruce. Steve and I wondered what had happened for the Hulk to have been born when Bruce was exposed to all that gamma radiation; we suspected maybe he'd been abused, but this is just... no wonder."

Steve just looked sad. "Did he go to an orphanage, afterward?"

Clint shook his head. "He went into foster care until his mom's sister took him and raised him. He acted out for a while, had bad temper tantrums. He rarely hit other people, mostly he tore stuff up, and yelled a lot. He used to run away, too. He had counseling and by the time he was nine or so, he'd settled down. From all the school reports and interviews with his aunt and cousin, he turned out to be a nice kid, helpful but guarded."

"Did he have friends? I had Bucky and we helped each other. Did Bruce have anybody like that?" Steve asked, his eyes looking faraway for that moment.

Clint made a so-so gesture with his hand. "Well, adults tended to like him. Other kids, that was a mixed bag. He had some run-ins with bullying types – he skipped a couple of grades, so he was a lot younger and smaller than the other kids in his classes. He was liked by a fair number of kids, but he rarely let himself be friends with them. I don't think he had anybody like your friend, Steve."

Steve said, "I was the same age as the kids in my class, but I was always the littlest boy of the bunch. Bucky helped me out of a few jams." He nudged Tony. "You skipped grades, right?"

Tony nodded, but didn't offer to share if he'd been bullied. He'd started college when he was still a little dude, Clint knew. There was no way that he hadn't been up close and personal with guys who resented his intelligence and his money. Also, Tony's mouth had gotten him into trouble as an adult on a regular basis, so it was a pretty good bet that he'd said things that riled up other kids to the point of wanting to take a swing at him.

On the other hand, when Tony turned on the charm it was hard to not fall under his spell. He'd probably talked his way out of trouble as much as he'd talked himself into it. Clint had seen the news conference when Tony had come back from Afghanistan. He'd had the entire room of reporters sitting on the floor because he'd sat down on the dais and asked them to join him. He'd been so likeable, so sincere, and had caused an uproar when he said Stark Industries was now out of the weapons business.

Tony grinned. "Rhodey had my back when I was at M.I.T. Still does. But Bruce, he never had a best friend like that?"

Clint said, "Not really. Not as a kid. He was closest to Betty, and they were lovers for a long time, but they didn't meet until they were at Harvard. They went back and forth about getting married for years."

Clint stretched, going from cross-legged to extending his legs, and then letting them hang over the edge of the counter. Apparently that gave Tony the green light to get up; he stretched, then deposited his apple core into the trash. He ended up facing Clint, but Steve stayed at the table.

Steve said, "Bruce made strong connections with all of us, the few days he was here. It's hard to believe that he didn't have more good friends, at least before the accident with the gamma machine."

Clint shrugged. "Nah, even as an adult, his circle of friends was small. His younger cousin, and a kid, uh Rick something, who'd attached himself to Bruce after Bruce had saved his life. But, he was good friends with a guy who runs a pizza place in Willowdale, Virginia, the town where Culver University is located. Those were the people he was closest to, before the accident. Just like when he was a kid, there were a lot of other people who liked him and would consider him a friend, too, of sorts. A friend who'd help you in a heartbeat, but kind of shied away from sharing personal stuff or hanging out together much."

"The genetics card... you think people will say Bruce, the Hulk, is evil, bad, because he inherited it from his father?" Steve stood up and folded his arms over his chest. He looked determined.

"Some will. Tony, you know they will, so this is something you need to have a really good response to. You'd better cite research or something that shows that most kids who are abused don't become abusers themselves," Clint said.

"Will do. Is Bruce a good doctor?" Tony said, looking grim. He kept glancing at a high cupboard where Clint knew he kept alcohol.

"Yeah, he is. He's a great diagnostician. He's never had his own practice, but after he got his license, he put in his time wherever he lived. He worked as a sub for Culver's Student Health Clinic and had a regular shift about twice a month. He also subbed at Willowdale hospital's ER and for a medical practice, if the regular docs were sick or out-of-town."

Tony glanced _again_ at where the liquor was kept in the kitchen and Clint scowled at him. "So Tony, I see you eyeballing the booze cupboard. Isn't it a little early to start drinking for the day?" Clint asked, and yeah, he was getting peeved that after hearing how Bruce's dad beat his family when he was drunk, that Tony thought now was a good time to get into the Scotch.

Tony shook his head. "Actually, I'm fighting an impulse to empty it all down the drain." He got up and stood next to Steve, and Clint noticed how their shoulders were touching.

Tony sighed. "I think I've got enough information about Bruce now. I'll keep you guys in the loop about the campaign – ah, should we have weekly meetings? Pizza night or something, talk to each other about what we're doing? Not just about Bruce, but you know, Avengers stuff."

"Sounds good," said Clint. "We'll do movies after we eat. I'm making it my mission in life to introduce Steve to all the classics."

Steve smiled wryly. "I'm not sure if I'd call _Santa Claus Conquers the Martians_ a classic, Clint. It was terrible."

"Yeah, but it was terrible in a classic way. It's been named as one of the worst films ever. It's even on the bottom 100 movie list. That kind of stupidity deserves a spotlight. Besides, you had fun throwing popcorn at the screen, too, just like me and Nat." Clint grinned, and started running movie titles in his head for the next time he could drag Steve to the great little home theater room Tony had installed. Maybe _Ice Pirates_ or _Clash of the Titans_ .

Steve said firmly, "We'll take turns picking the movie. I can already tell that if we let you pick them all the time that I'll never see a decent film again."

He added thoughtfully, "Tony, what if we contacted Betty Ross, asked her if she'd help us? Maybe she'd agree to be interviewed?"

Tony nodded and stepped toward the door, pausing there. "Why don't you call her, Steve. I suspect that my time as her father's weapons supplier isn't going to make her feel like talking to me. I realized she's E. Ross, brilliant in her field of cellular biology; she co-authored papers with Bruce, and I was impressed when I read them. Ross is a common name, and I didn't connect her with General Thaddeus Ross. Maybe you could talk to the other people at Willowdale who knew Bruce, too. I could arrange for some camera work, and we could show it to the public when the time is right."

"I think I'll motorcycle down to Virginia, talk to her in person," Steve said, and he grabbed one of the apples in the bowl.

"Road trip. Cool. You said you wanted to travel around the country on your bike. Two birds with one stone this way." Clint jumped down from the counter. "Meeting adjourned, Cap?"

"I think so. Tony?" Steve glanced at him.

"Yeah. We're done. Let's make Thursdays Avengers meeting and movie night. I'll pick the next movie. It'll be a surprise." Tony ducked out of the kitchen and Steve finished the apple in three bites and started filling the sink with hot water.

Clint left him being responsible about kitchen cleanup and went to his quarters. He wanted to call his handler. He thought Coulson would like to know what the team was doing about Bruce. And probably Coulson missed talking with Clint. He was a little surprised to realize just how much _he_ missed seeing and talking with Phil Coulson.

x x x


	5. Steve Takes a Road Trip

**Chapter Five. Steve Takes a Road Trip **

"Captain, Sir has directed me to route all communication from S.H.I.E.L.D. to you, and Assistant Director Hill requests that you admit her to the Avengers' quarters. She's most insistent," JARVIS informed him.

Steve grinned to himself. Tony had found the silver lining to Steve being their team captain. _"You talk to 'em first, Cap. Screen out the bullshit. More time for me to be in the lab that way"._

Steve stuffed another shirt into his duffel bag and fastened it. "Tell her I'll meet with her shortly. Could someone escort her to the hospitality visitor room, the one that's on the floor by our private elevators? She might like a cup of coffee."

"Certainly, Captain Rogers."

He walked over to the dresser and snatched his motorcycle keys from a small ceramic dish on the top of the elegant wood. Tony had made this room comfortable and unlike S.H.I.E.L.D., didn't think his furnishings had to be WWII retro.

He hadn't decided if he wanted to stay here all the time, or if he should get his own apartment, maybe back in Brooklyn. He'd always paid his own way, and while he understood Tony's argument that it only made sense for the Avengers to be where they could respond rapidly to a crisis, he felt uncomfortable with just letting Tony pay for everything.

It wasn't like he could afford to pay rent in Stark Tower, though. Well, for now it was fine to stay here for the rest of their mandatory downtime, so after his trip to Willowdale he'd bunk here again.

He hoisted the genuine WWII grayish-green duffel bag over his shoulder. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had placed it in his room before he'd woken up from the ice, part of the doomed plan to make him think he was still in his own time. He wondered where S.H.I.E.L.D. had dug it up from. Maybe from some warehouse filled with leftover Army supplies, or, he guessed, they could have bought it on Ebay.

Clint had explained how people sold things on the Internet; he'd shown him some of the Captain America memorabilia that people were bidding for on Ebay. It was ridiculous how much some items were going for; apparently prices had skyrocketed since the public knew he was still alive.

He turned out the lights, locked the door. It had been more than forty-eight hours since he and Bruce had parted ways at the Met, and he figured he knew why Maria Hill was here in person. He had no intention of trying to deceive her.

x x x

"Captain." Maria Hill was a lovely woman, tall and dark-haired with striking good looks, but the way she assessed people with her no-nonsense approach was what Steve had always noticed most about her. He thought Peggy would have admired her. She had declined to sit down on the comfortable couch or take any refreshments.

He moved from the doorway into the spacious room and nodded his head toward her. "Assistant Director Hill, what can I do for you?" He sounded brisk to his own ears and apparently Hill thought so, too, judging from the way she narrowed her eyes at him.

She pointed at his duffel. "Going somewhere, Captain Rogers?"

"Yes. A little road trip on my motorcycle. I wanted to see some of the country, and I have an errand to do as well."

She raised her eyebrows. "Report your route and destination, in case we should need you, or at least, need to talk to you. You'll take your cellphone with you."

She'd phrased that as an order, not a question. Yes, Peggy would have liked this woman. It occurred to him that maybe they'd met. Peggy had worked in this agency's earlier incarnation. Perhaps she'd met a young Maria Hill, possibly even trained her. He resolved to ask Assistant Director Hill sometime if she'd ever met Peggy Carter. But not now.

He looked at his watch; he should have already left. "I'm going to Willowdale, Virginia I'll be on backroads as much as possible that parallel Interstates 78 and 81, and then I'll be traveling on the Blue Ridge Parkway."

Her gaze sharpened. "Are you taking Banner to visit his home town, Captain? If so, he's going to need a new backpack since his old one currently happens to be buried under a lot of garbage at a transfer station. Granted, it wasn't in the best of shape so pitching it into the trash was a reasonable disposition for it, but I need to have a visual confirmation that Doctor Banner is still within Stark Tower." Hill had crossed her arms and looked impatiently at him. He supposed she had better things to do with her time than being here, after all.

"That won't be possible, Assistant Director Hill. Bruce is-"

"I don't care if he's still sleeping off changing into the Hulk, or if he's being held hostage in Stark's workshop, handing him wrenches," she snapped. "I want to see Doctor Banner and I want to see him now."

"Wait. How do you know Bruce's backpack was thrown out?"

She frowned at him. "Are you kidding me? We tagged it with a sensor so we could track Banner. My theory is that he guessed we did that and threw it out. It did divert us for a little while." She stepped closer to him. "I want to see Doctor Banner right now, Captain America."

He didn't budge. "Sorry. He left two days ago, and he didn't leave behind a forwarding address. He did leave us a message, and he authorized us to pass it along to S.H.I.E.L.D. It's not very long, would you like to see it? And then, I'm afraid I'll need to be going."

Hill nodded curtly, and Steve asked JARVIS to play Bruce's farewell video.

When it was over, the image of Bruce meditating frozen in the air where JARVIS had projected it, Hill called Fury.

She succinctly relayed the news that Banner was gone and then handed the phone to him.

"Captain America," Fury said in a tone of voice that reminded him of a few truly cranky generals he'd met. "You've let one of your Avengers go A.W.O.L. Get him back."

"He made his decision, Director Fury. The team and I are going to respect it."

Fury snorted."You really don't want him to be out there on his own. Banner thinks we might cut him open, make him bleed for us. That won't happen on my watch, but it for damn sure is going to happen when he gets picked up by other interested parties."

"Director, we do want him back, safe and without having to worry that our own government is going to harm him. We're working on that, sir.

We're going to take a crack at changing the public's perception of the Hulk and we'll do whatever it takes to get Ross and S.H.I.E.L.D. off his back."

"This isn't a perfect world, Captain Rogers. Banner needs to drop some of that pride, bend his neck, and come under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s protection. Ross is pathological about that man."

"Yes sir. We know about Ross. As for Bruce bending his neck, he knows you only want him to do that so you can put a collar on him. He'd rather run and take his chances at staying free."

"Hydra wants him. They're not going to respect any legal protections you wrangle for him," Fury said, much more mildly than Steve had expected from him.

"Yes, sir." Steve responded in kind, his own tone of voice level. "Our intelligence confirms that and Black Widow is looking into it right now. If it comes to it, can we rely on S.H.I.E.L.D. to help rescue Bruce Banner if Hydra kidnaps him?"

"Captain America," Fury said, with a warning note. "I'm sure you remember that I told Banner he was on his own if he wouldn't play ball with us."

"I know what you told him," Steve said evenly. "I'm asking what you'll do, if he's taken."

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it, Captain. Get him back before trouble really catches up to him. For his sake, I'm telling you this. Because we will be tracking him, and if we bring him in as a hostile, he's not going to like it. If the baton gets handed back to Ross, and I believe it will, especially now that Banner has up and done a runner, then your missing Avenger is going to like it even less."

"We aren't going to force Bruce to do anything he doesn't want to do. We'll do everything we can to protect him, and Tony Stark is going to run a media campaign to get the public's support."

"You're turning loose Tony Stark to sell the Hulk's image. I can hardly wait to see how that turns out. Very well, Captain. Put Hill back on."

Hill took the phone and Steve asked JARVIS to send the video to Fury.

He waited for her at the door and escorted her down to the main lobby, where she collected the two agents assigned to monitor Banner's whereabouts. He didn't envy them. He figured they were in the doghouse at the moment, as well as all the agents who'd been on duty at the Tower.

Bruce hadn't explained how he'd gotten out of the building unnoticed by S.H.I.E.L.D. He'd check with JARVIS about that later.

He gave Hill a nod, and went to get his motorcycle out of Tony's personal garage.

x x x

It was dark by the time he'd pulled up to a Best Western motel near Culver University. The ride had been enjoyable, a good part of it spent on the Blue Ridge Parkway. He'd had to go slower on that curvy mountain road but the scenic views of the Appalachian Mountains had made that trade worth it. It was fairly late in the evening but he didn't feel like going to bed yet, and besides, he was hungry.

Betty Ross had agreed to meet with him tomorrow morning, but he thought he might go tonight to eat at the pizza place that belonged to Bruce's friend Stanley. He would talk to him about Bruce and see if he would agree to speak up for him. Tony felt that if Bruce's friends gave interviews then it would help humanize the Hulk and gain sympathy for Bruce. Steve wasn't sure if Stanley had known that his friend Bruce Banner was the Hulk, but he must know it now, after all the publicity.

He checked into the motel and decided to jog over to the restaurant. He shrugged on the specially made backpack that contained his shield, and asked directions at the front desk to Stanley's Pizza Parlor.

x x x

Bruce's friend was an older man, not tall, with a head of wispy greyish-white hair. He had a kind smile and was friendly with his customers, who all seemed fond of him, and there was a lot of joking and laughter between them.

"I know who you are, Steve Rogers," Stanley said quietly, as he placed Steve's pizza on a small rack on top of the table. "It's an honor to meet Captain America."

Steve smiled at him. "I'm happy to meet you, too. You have a nice place here, and everybody seems to be having a good time. I'm a friend of Bruce Banner's and I'd really like to talk to you about him, but I guess we'd better wait until you close. This joint is jumping." He took a slice and folded it to take a bite.

Stanley chuckled. "That's right, you're from New York, aren't you? People around these parts never eat pizza like that."

Steve finished his bite and said, "Brooklyn, actually. This is good, but it's different from what I remember from before I went into the Army. I haven't had many chances to eat pizza since I was revived, although Bruce and the rest of us shared some pizzas one night. I think he preferred his pizza-"

"Vegetarian," Stanley responded. "Mushrooms, black olives, green peppers and onions. That's what he likes the best, although he told me he'd learned not to be picky. Bruce, he's one of you now, one of the Avengers?"

Steve nodded. "Yes. His help was crucial in stopping that alien invasion. He's a hero, although I don't think he believes that. He's not with us now, though. He thought it best to leave again."

Some new customers walked in, two couples who slid into an empty booth. One of the girls waved at Stanley, and he smiled at her. "Okay, Captain Rogers, I've got to tend to my customers, but I want to talk to you, too. I want to hear all about Bruce. It's been maybe a year and a half since he was here, and that visit didn't go so good for him. You, ah, know about Betty?"

Steve nodded. "I'm going to visit with her tomorrow."

Stanley patted him on the shoulder. "Well then, enjoy your pizza. I'll be closing the doors in an hour, and then we'll have a talk. You got a place to stay, son? Because I've got a spare room upstairs. Bruce slept there for a few days, when he was here last. Worked for me, too, delivering pizzas. Broke my heart, seeing him do that. Do you know how smart he is?"

"Yes sir. I've got a pretty good idea from watching him and Mr. Stark work together." Steve smiled, remembering Bruce taking charge of tracking down the Tesseract.

Stanley sighed. "Working in a lab, figuring out all that science that he's so good at and teaching graduate classes, that's what he should be doing."

"Or working as a doctor. I was told he did that, too, whenever he could. But he couldn't do that and not give himself away for those few days he spent here. So, he delivered pizzas for you?" Steve took another bite. The pizza was great.

"He insisted," Stanley said, gesturing with hands in a way that suggested losing that argument. "He said he needed an excuse to get into his old building on campus. He did a good job, too. I wish I had ten more like him working for me. He wouldn't let me just give him money."

"Doctor Banner can be stubborn, I think."

Stanley laughed. "Like a mule, sometimes. Then he frowned. "I remember he had to deal with some smart-alecky sorority brats who called him names when they wouldn't pay him for the pizzas. One of the other kids there clued me in, because Bruce didn't say anything about being insulted. I wasn't going to sell that sorority anymore pizzas after that, but Bruce talked me out of it."

He looked at Steve, puzzled. "I don't really understand how he can become, well, what he becomes, because he's a patient guy, really. Now Betty, she can be a bit of a firecracker. Especially if someone tries to say something not so nice about Bruce. But you'll see that for yourself tomorrow. So, I didn't give you a chance to answer me, did I? Do you need a place to stay while you're here?"

"I'm fine, I'm at the Best Western. But thank you for your kindness." Steve smiled gently at him, and he smiled back, patted Steve on the arm, and then went to talk to the two couples in the nearby booth.

Steve ate his pizza and watched Stanley laugh and talk and make people feel at home. He could see why Bruce had let his guard down and let this man become his friend. He hoped that before too long, Bruce would have a chance to come and visit with his old friend again.

x x x

The man who opened the door and ushered him into Betty Ross' home the next morning was tall, classically handsome, and well-groomed with every hair in place on his head. Steve recognized him from Bruce's file. Dr. Leonard Samson, the fellow Betty Ross had given her heart to after Bruce had disappeared from her life. He was surprised to see him. According to the notes in the file on Bruce's relationships and Betty's, she'd

broken up with her fiancée after he'd admitted to her that it had been him who'd notified General Ross that Bruce was in Willowdale.

He couldn't have looked more different from Bruce. Dr. Samson's hair was neatly combed. Bruce's curls were unruly, even when he wasn't running his hands through them while he was thinking about something. Bruce was short, Dr. Samson tall. Dr. Samson's expensive button-down shirt looked pressed, crisp. Bruce's shirts had been creased from being in his backpack; they were worn, frayed on the cuffs and the hems, and the Indian looking shirt he'd worn in the video had a small tear on the side.

Bruce seemed disheveled no matter what he was wearing, but on him it looked cute. It made Steve want to pull Bruce to him, straighten his shirt, make sure his buttons were done up right, smooth down his wayward curls. Even the suit Tony had lent Bruce to wear when they'd witnessed Loki and Thor returning to Asgard had lost its crisp lines after Bruce had worn it for about twenty minutes.

Handsome wasn't how he would describe Bruce, either. His features were pleasant, and his eyes were beautiful and very expressive, but he didn't look like a movie star, although Dr. Samson could pass for one.

Dr. Samson had broad shoulders and an athletic build that to Steve's eye spoke of time spent regularly in a gym. Bruce wasn't overly muscled, although he was strong enough to handle the manual labor jobs he had frequently held. He knew Bruce could run fast and was fairly agile. Unfortunately, that had been skills observed by Ross' extraction team and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, when Bruce was evading capture.

Usually Bruce looked a combination of awkward and endearing, although Steve had sometimes seen a bit of his temper. Steve had also observed that Bruce usually tried to keep some distance between himself and other people. Steve figured he knew why. Hoping it would help Bruce feel more comfortable, Steve had taken a clue from how Tony treated Bruce and had made it a point to start touching him in friendship.

Each time Steve slid his hand down Bruce's arm or patted his shoulder, Bruce's posture would become less tense, muscles relaxing, a puzzled look often crossing his face.

Steve had started to really enjoy putting that look on Doctor Banner's face.

When Steve had kissed his mouth that first time, he'd looked dazed, his lips reddened and a little swollen. It was a very attractive look and, actually, when Bruce looked like that he could pass for a film star. Tony had told Steve once that Bruce was "a hot mess" but it wasn't a term he was comfortable with using. Back in his time, he would have thought of Bruce as being "keen." Still, back in his time, he probably wouldn't have taken a chance on kissing him, so there were some advantages to being in this new century.

He knew he'd surprised Bruce by that impulsive kiss, but then Bruce always looked a bit startled when one of the team hugged him or touched him. It made Steve feel a little sad, seeing that reaction.

Dr. Samson and Steve shook hands and introduced themselves. Steve couldn't help but compare Bruce's hands with this man's. Bruce's hands were smaller, calloused, but not scarred. Actual injuries to Bruce's skin healed and left no scars, according to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files, but the slow buildup of roughened skin apparently didn't trigger Bruce's body in the same way. Dr. Samson's hands were smooth. He was a psychiatrist, a doctor for the mind. He didn't handle shovels and hammers the way Bruce would have as a laborer.

The biggest difference between their hands was that Dr. Sampson's were still, relaxed. Bruce's hands were seldom quiet; he was constantly fidgeting with them, running a finger over knuckles, clutching them together, rubbing circles into his palms, rolling up the hem of his shirt, tucking them under his crossed arms or guiltily shoving them into his pockets. He wondered if Bruce had always done that, or if he'd picked up the habit after the gamma accident.

It was worse if he was under stress, like when Director Fury had been haranguing him. It had been one reason Steve had taken him out of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, with the other Avengers as Bruce's escort. Bruce had gone from just fidgeting to clenching his hands so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.

Dr. Samson smiled at him, a kind expression on his face. Smiling back, Steve thought maybe that this was what Dr. Samson and Bruce had in common, other than both of them being smart, educated men.

Maybe Dr. Samson was as kind to others as Bruce was to the people he met, and Betty Ross was attracted to men like that.

Dr. Sampson motioned towards a doorway. "Would you like to wait for Betty in the kitchen, Captain Rogers? I just made a new pot of coffee. She's caught up in a video conference call about an experiment her grad students are running and it might be a little while until she's able to let go of their hands and send them off to do the next step."

"Thank you, that sounds fine." Steve followed Samson into the large comfortable kitchen, with its pans readily available from a rack hanging over a butcher block and a sturdy kitchen table.

Samson filled two mugs and placed them on the table. "Cream, sugar?"

"Black is fine." It was how he'd learned to drink it as a youngster, when cream and sugar for coffee was a luxury he and his mother couldn't afford.

They sat quietly for a moment, Steve sipping his coffee and Samson just holding his mug between his hands.

Finally, Samson broke the silence. "I've seen the news reports, you know, about what you and Bruce and the rest of your Avengers did to save us. I'd like to say thank you. I'd especially like to say that to Bruce, and to apologize to him."

"You're welcome, Doctor Samson. Apologize?"

Dr. Samson nodded. "Oh, yes. I know from what you told Betty that Bruce isn't in New York anymore. I was hoping he might stop here, but, well, I don't blame him for not taking a chance like that. I made a mistake about him. A serious mistake, and it almost cost him his freedom, and Betty her life."

"I'm aware that you notified General Ross that Bruce had returned to Willowdale." Steve picked up his cup but just held it in his hands. He had the notion that Samson had a lot more to say.

Samson sighed. "Yes. I take full responsibility for that action. Bruce would have slipped out of town without being trapped by the Army, probably, although I gather they were tracking him anyway."

"You don't have to tell me, I understand you probably had your reasons."

"That I was jealous of Bruce?" Dr. Samson shook his head.

"Sir?"

"No," he said quietly. "That's not the reason. Let me try to explain. Betty's father called me when the two of us started to get serious. He asked me to keep our conversation private, and I agreed. I hoped that if the lines of communication could be opened through me, Betty could reconcile with her father."

"You were trying to help?" Steve took another swallow of his coffee.

"Yes, that was my intention." Dr. Samson sighed. "General Ross and Betty had been estranged since the lab accident, but neither of them would talk about what exactly happened. Her father said it was Banner's fault, and that he was an extremely dangerous man. He said that he'd drag Betty back into his madness, that he'd almost killed her once, and he'd put her at risk again because Banner was her weakness, and she needed protection from him. I had no idea what it was about Bruce Banner that General Ross kept warning me about, though."

He shook his head. "I'm pretty good at reading people, Captain Rogers, if I can see their body language and look at their eyes. It wasn't until after Bruce changed into the Hulk and took Betty away that I met face to face with General Ross. Then I knew that he'd lied to me and I'd fallen for it."

"So, what did you think of Bruce, then?" Steve asked, and drank the rest of his coffee while Samson took a sip of his.

Dr. Samson looked ruefully at Steve. "You know he tried to hide after she spotted him at Stan's place, but she found him in the alley. At her insistence, he agreed to come by later, but they talked privately. I didn't really see him at that point. He didn't come though, so Betty left the house and drove around looking for him. It was storming pretty badly by then and she found him trying to hitchhike his way out of town."

He shifted a little in his chair and looked wryly at Steve. "I wasn't in favor of her bringing him into our home, to be honest. But Betty never knew what had happened to Bruce or why he'd disappeared. I knew she'd loved him so I went along with her wishes, but I was hoping that she wouldn't find him. I also called her father, to get his advice. She didn't know I did that, and I hung up on him when the two of them returned."

He smiled crookedly. "Bruce didn't look dangerous. Betty was pretty wet from being out in the rain, but Bruce was soaked to the skin. He squelched when he walked, dripping so much water on the floor that I had to get out the mop. He looked so... well, awkward. Tired. Sad, too, but he tried to hide that from us. He really couldn't manage it, though."

Steve nodded, then brushed a stray lock back that had fallen on his forehead. "I know. Bruce tries very hard to stay calm, but his eyes and his hands always show what he's feeling. I think he found a way to be content when he was in South America and overseas. He told us he'd moved on, focused on helping other people. He lost that peace of mind when he came to help us track down Loki. He left us afterwards because he was afraid he would be taken and experimented on by our own government."

Samson sat up a little straighter and squared his shoulders. "And I'm sure my actions contributed to that fear. I've regretted what I did, and Betty left me because of it. I'm very lucky that she's forgiven me. She's very protective of Bruce. Anyway, the night that we met, he apologized, said it wasn't a good idea for him to be here, and that he'd just go. I knew he said that for me, for being Betty's ex and coming into our home. But thinking it over, I decided that this was a chance for Betty to finally get that closure with him. After seeing him, I was intrigued on my own behalf. I wanted a chance to puzzle him out. I asked him to stay."

While Samson finished his coffee, Steve thought about Bruce being in this house and seeing the woman he loved with another man. He'd lost the life that should have been his, all out of his grasp as long as the Hulk lived within him.

Samson cleared his throat. "I liked him. I really didn't want to, either. I wanted him to be an asshole, see Betty realize that he had been bad news, and watch her shut the door on him forever. Instead, I could see why she'd fallen in love with him."

Making a soft sound of amusement, Samson made a gesture with his hand, taking in the sunlit kitchen.

"The three of us actually had an enjoyable dinner together, and for a few minutes he seemed to forget his troubles, laughing with us about something I said about my practice. Then I think everything rebounded on him, like a tidal wave washing over him. He had nothing anymore. Here he was, a refugee in what should have been his home."

"So it hit him kind of hard?"

"That's an understatement, Captain." Dr. Samson said, his eyes faraway.

Steve stayed silent, waiting.

Dr. Samson came back from what ever memories he was recalling and looked Steve in the eye. "I mean, he looked like a lost soul, and I'm sure he was aware of that. Everything he owned was in that beat up backpack, and soaked to boot. He even had to wear my clothes, and of course they didn't fit. He broke down a little, just a sob and a few tears that he couldn't stop in time. Then he stuffed all of those emotions back down deep inside of himself, but his eyes – you're right about them. He couldn't keep the desolation he was feeling from showing in them."

Steve nodded. Bruce's eyes did give him away every time, he thought. He remembered when Bruce had come into the gym to ask him about going to the Met to see the wartime artists' exhibit. It had only taken a quick glance into his eyes to see that something was very wrong.

Continuing, Samson said, "I could see that Betty wanted to comfort him, hug him. She didn't, since I was there. Hell, I wanted to hug him, but I thought he wouldn't feel comfortable accepting that kind of gesture from his... rival."

He got up and at Steve's nod refilled both their mugs. "Later, after dinner, he couldn't sleep, and I was still up, so we talked. I admitted how I felt about him re-emerging into Betty's life, and he assured me that he hadn't come back to Willowdale to see her. He was both totally honest with me and absolutely guarded at the same time." He put the coffee pot back and leaned against the counter.

Steve nodded. "Yes, he's been the same way with us, about leaving."

"As a psychiatrist, I would love to work with him, especially now that I know what he wouldn't tell me that night. I was on campus when Bruce turned into the Hulk."

A look of remembered awe crossed his face. "It was unbelievable and amazing to see him like that. He was so protective of Betty. He saved her life, you know. I know about his childhood, and I've seen what that kind of trauma can do to a child. Bruce was a resilient kid, or he never could have become a successful doctor and scientist, or love Betty like he did, but still, that kind of abuse leaves its mark. It's my supposition that the Hulk comes from what he experienced at the hands of his father."

He sat back down and looked at Steve earnestly. "Bruce desperately needs therapy. I told him he should talk to a shrink, and that was before I knew what happens when he becomes angry or scared. I can't treat him because of his former relationship with my fiancee. But to have the chance to delve into his psyche? To understand the Hulk and what primal fears form him from Bruce's own flesh? I envy any shrinks who treat him. Bruce Banner is fascinating. Ferreting out such deeply felt repression and hypothesizing what it would take to cure him from ever becoming the Hulk again would be the pinnacle of a career."

Samson seemed lost in thought for a moment, then licked his lips and sipped at his coffee. Steve was a little troubled about how fervent Samson had sounded when he'd discussed Bruce's need for psychological treatment. Dr. Samson seemed to have lost sight of the man for a moment, he'd been so focused on what a feather in someone's cap it would be to have Bruce as a patient.

Steve cleared his throat. "You know that I'm here to talk to Miss Ross about giving an interview about Bruce."

Dr. Samson nodded. "Yes, she explained after you'd called her from New York."

"We'd like to see a shift in public opinion about the Hulk and Bruce, so that we can gain support for opposing those who want to experiment on him. Would you be willing to be supportive of this mission?" Steve asked carefully.

"And by capture Bruce to experiment on him you mean by Betty's father, General Ross. I'm fascinated by Bruce's case, but the general is obsessed with him. He'll oppose your campaign, you realize. I, on the other hand, am very willing to help Bruce. Making amends for letting General Ross know Bruce was here the night Betty offered him sanctuary would be good for my soul."

There was a huff of exasperation and Steve saw that Betty Ross, lovely with her big blue eyes and long brown hair, had stopped at the kitchen doorway. Steve felt his eyes widen as he took in her appearance.

"Leonard, I've told you that Bruce won't hold you calling the General against you. You didn't know then what you do now." Betty Ross walked to Samson and stood beside him and he grasped her hand. "Hello, Captain Rogers. I'm so glad to meet you. I have so many questions for you about Bruce."

Betty Ross was expecting a baby. Steve tried to keep his eyes only on her face, but she chuckled. "I guess Leonard didn't tell you. Our son is going to be born in about three months. We've decided to call him Robert Leonard Samson, after Bruce and Leonard."

Robert was Bruce's first name, Steve knew. Leonard stood up, and kissed Betty on the top of her head. "You two should talk alone now. And Captain, if you find Bruce, tell him he's going to have a namesake in the world, and we'd love it if he would come and meet him."

Betty sat down in the chair Dr. Samson had vacated, her pretty eyes intent upon his, and said softly, "I was so happy to hear that Bruce found a place for himself, with you, Captain, and with those other people who are on your team."

"You're right, Miss Ross. He does have a place with the Avengers."

She laid a hand on belly, and said,"When you called and told me he'd left again..."

"He didn't think it was safe for him or for us if he stayed."

"I saw the news reports, you, him, Iron Man, all fighting. I saw Bruce catch Iron Man when he fell from the sky. And I've seen Bruce fight as the Hulk before, in Harlem. He saved me, and a lot of other people, from the Abomination. I'll do anything to help him."

"We hope that you can. You know him the best, Miss Ross. As I mentioned when I called, if you and perhaps his other friends would consent to be interviewed, it might help the public to start pulling for him."

"Oh, please, call me Betty. Of course I'll help. Leonard will too."

"Most people are leery of him, so showing people that he's a good man, not a monster, can help him be accepted. If the public sees that it's wrong for Bruce to be hounded by the government, that he's not the terrorist he's been called and certainly not a biological weapon, then we hope he can stop running," Steve said.

Betty grasped his hand and squeezed it, before releasing him. "It's time that people know the truth about the accident that turned him into the Hulk. And, do you know about my father's role in all of this?"

"Yes, we're aware." He smiled warmly at her. "And my name is Steve."

He cleared his throat, feeling a little uncertain about what he needed to ask her. "It can't have been easy for you, having Bruce disappear from your life the way he did. Whoever interviews you is going to ask about that, and, well, I want to make sure you understand that there will be some very personal questions asked of you. Will you be comfortable with that, Betty?"

"I think so." She laid a hand on her belly and Steve wondered if the baby was kicking her. "I loved Bruce. We were together for a long time, and I still love him. He's probably the best friend I've ever had, and it's been so awful all these years not knowing how he was or where he was living. Or if he was even alive."

Smiling at him, she said, "Leonard and I have talked about this, you know. I was so angry with my Leonard after I found out he'd called my father and told him Bruce was in Willowdale. I knew that Bruce wouldn't be angry at Leonard. That's not how Bruce thinks. He'd understand that Leonard was worried about me, my safety."

Steve was puzzled, and it must have shown on his face because Betty laughed. "I've confused you, haven't I?"

"Well, yes."

"I was angry with Leonard because he had no right to go over my head to my father and have secret conversations that involved me and the decisions I've made. I'm not a child, and what I want in a relationship is to be treated with respect and as a partner. I broke up with Leonard over that." Betty twisted the engagement ring on her finger.

"But you two made back up," Steve said.

Betty nodded. "It took us months of talking things out for me to trust him again. But, I've made mistakes in life too, and I believe in second chances. We're good now."

Steve swallowed, his chest feeling heavy, Peggy on his mind. "Just tell me to mind my own business, Betty, if I step over a line here. Do you think it would have been better if Bruce hadn't shown up on your doorstep after being gone for so long?"

She made a face. "Actually, I had to track him down and convince him to come home with me. He was afraid of interfering and that it might be dangerous for us if stayed at our house that night. But I don't regret finding that closure with him. You see, I never knew why he disappeared. My father just called him a coward. Of course I didn't accept that and Dad and I had a huge fight. We're still estranged. It wasn't until Bruce and I talked that I learned what my father wanted with him. My God, the extent that Bruce has been hunted by my father is just horrible."

"It had to be painful for you to see him again like that. Was it disruptive to the life you'd built without Bruce? You're sure it was worth it?" Peggy thought he'd died decades ago. She must have come to some kind of peace about it and it felt selfish to him to thrust himself back into her life now.

Betty looked sharply at him and reached out to pat his arm. "Yes. It was worth it. I really wish that he'd called me before he left New York this time. I know why he won't, though. He wants me to go on with my life and not think we could turn time back and be lovers again. To be his, and for him to be mine."

She touched a chain hanging around her neck and pulled out a necklace with a diamond heart.

"We tried that, when he escaped with me from Culver, when the Hulk took me into the Appalachians. But, well. Bruce wouldn't let us become physical with each other. He was afraid he would transform."

Shooting him a look, she said, "I'm not embarrassing you, am I, Captain?"

She was, but he shook his head no and hoped he wouldn't blush.

"We pawned my necklace so we could go see Sterns, hoping he could help Bruce. During the long drive to New York, in the old junker of a truck we bought, we talked about us. You know, we never had made that last commitment to each other, to be married by law or just make a personal commitment. We took as many steps back from each other as we did forward."

She laid a hand protectively on her belly again, and sighed. "Bruce accepted that what we'd had was gone before I did. My father did catch us, after we'd completed the experiment with Sterns. He was taking Bruce off in a helicopter somewhere and let me go with him. I'm sure it wasn't out of sympathy for us. I know my father better than that. He thought Bruce wouldn't try to escape if he thought I might be hurt by it."

Her eyes started to shine a little with tears. "I understand Bruce so well. Do you know how we met?"

"At Harvard, I believe."

"Yes." She laughed a little, shook her head. "It seems like such a long time ago now. Back when we were in school, we volunteered as test subjects in an experiment with hallucinogens. Tripping together like that lowered his guard, his defenses, and we talked and talked with each other. We've stayed close ever since, best friends even during the times that we stepped back from being lovers. He told me on that drive about trying to kill himself. Oh! Did you know about that, Steve?"

He nodded and she sighed. "Before letting himself fall from the helicopter to trigger the change and stop the Abomination, he kissed me. I knew he was saying goodbye to me, to any future where the two of us could be together."

"That must have been so painful for both of you." Steve swallowed down the lump that kept wanting to rise in his throat, and flashed on his last thoughts when dying, before the cold, icy waters had torn him from Peggy forever.

Tears escaped and slowly rolled down her cheeks. She dashed them away and said, her voice thick, "The General would have set the helicopter down but Bruce told him no. He didn't know if falling from that height after being injected with Stern's inhibitor would make him change or not, and he did it anyway. He could have died if he hadn't transformed, and that was fine with him."

"I'm sorry for what you went through, Betty."

She sobbed once and then put her hand over her mouth. After a minute she dropped it. "That man breaks my heart."

She wiped at her eyes again, touched the necklace laying against her breasts. "He got this back and mailed it to me, along with a letter. You asked me if I regretted him seeing me after such a long time of being apart."

"It would be more than understandable if you did." He was only a memory to Peggy now, a wound that had scabbed and healed over. He didn't want to ever cause her pain again.

"I don't regret seeing Bruce again, Steve. But he does. He wrote that he should never have disrupted my life, put me in such danger. He wrote about us, and after reading it I finally accepted that Bruce and I are never going to be together again. Even if he finds a way to stop being the Hulk, we've gone our separate ways now. But he'll always be dear to me and a good, good friend."

She dropped the necklace so it lay against her skin and was mostly hidden by her blouse. Looking again at Steve, she said, "In his letter, he wrote that he'd accepted that a cure wasn't possible, and that he was going to learn to live with 'the other guy' and focus on being a better person. Be a doctor and help people. I haven't heard from him since."

She got out of the chair slowly. "I'm going to make some tea. Chamomile always makes me feel better after I've gotten teary."

She filled a tea kettle and turned the stove on, watched the blue flames for a moment, then walked over to him and laid her hand on his shoulder. He half turned in his chair and looked up at her.

"Steve? Maybe I'm being nosy, but I got the impression that you wanted to know how I felt about Bruce coming back into my life for personal reasons. Am I wrong? And you don't have to answer, but if there's something you'd like to talk about?"

She stepped back then, and when he didn't answer she returned to the stove and waited, a hand absently smoothing over her belly. He wondered if things had turned out differently, if Peggy would have caressed their baby while she carried him or her in her belly. He wondered if Peggy ever did have children. The file Fury had given him hadn't mentioned that.

"There was..." Steve halted, feeling tongue-tied. But she'd offered to listen and he hadn't talked about Peggy to anybody. Not even Bruce, although he'd almost told him, back when they were at the museum and they was looking at the drawing of her that he'd made.

She returned to the table and sat down beside him. She took his hand."You're so young. And you've gone from fighting and dying in a war to fighting in this battle with aliens. It must be so very strange for you, what's happened. Steve, are you okay?"

He swallowed. _Buck up, soldier_, he told himself. He tried smiling at her, but from her expression he didn't think he'd succeeded in reassuring her that he was fine.

Well, he wasn't fine. He hadn't been since he'd caught on that the people around him were playacting and the things in the room with him only props. The baseball game blaring out of the radio in that make-believe room had been the last clue. He'd been at that game, for heaven's sake.

He'd been trying to adjust to what Tony kept telling him was a brave new world – JARVIS had explained the reference to him, once Steve was convinced Tony was quoting something – and he would achieve that mission. He was the team leader for the Avengers now, and he would build a new life on that foundation. But he missed his old life so much. No. That wasn't exactly it. He missed the people he'd left behind. All gone now, except for Peggy, retired in England. And he didn't know what was the right thing to do. For her. For him.

"Steve? Sweetie, what is it? If you'd rather talk to Leonard, I can go get him." Bruce's Betty was nice, her hand in his felt warm and comforting. But, not Bruce's anymore, not as a lover or a wife.

The tea kettle whistled. Betty squeezed his hand and started to get up.

Steve held onto her hand. "I knew someone who used to say a cup of tea would fix anything. She had a little saying about it. Um, 'If you're cold, it will warm you, too heated, it will cool you, depressed, it will cheer you, too excited, it will calm you. ' She made me drink a cup when I had to tell her my friend Bucky died."

The whistle was loud and demanding, but Betty was frozen in place, her hand still in his, waiting for him to let the painful words out from where they were lurking in his chest, feeling heavy and hot.

He smiled at her, and let go of her hand, stood up and stepped to the stove. Turning the kettle off, he asked her, "Could I have a cup of tea, too?"

She nodded, and he took a deep breath. "There was a girl I was in love with during the war. Her name is Peggy. And she's still alive."

x x x


	6. Clint introduces Tony to Cheap Bourban

**Clint Introduces Tony to Cheap Bourbon**

Clint slumped against Tony's expensive outside walls and watched as the streak of light in the night sky came closer and closer. He hadn't come up to the top of Stark's tower to wait for Tony to show back up, but whatever. The blur transformed into an elegant red and gold metal suit, and slowed, hovering above the crazy contraption Stark had built that would strip the suit from his body and send it back to its alcove.

Clint wondered which suit Tony had chosen before jetting off early yesterday morning. They seemed to have multiplied every time he wandered into Tony's workshop. Tony didn't mind him hanging out there, when Clint was bored. Tony's music collection was awesome, and Tony always had his rock blaring. Tony treated him pretty much the way he did his robots, ordering Clint to root through his tool boxes for various screwdrivers or ratchets and to lay them down on the workbench so Tony could grab them.

Stark and his aversion to being handed things. Clint wondered when Tony had picked up that little phobia. He'd noticed it not long after moving into the tower for their mandatory three weeks away from S.H.I.E.L.D. Nat said he'd had it when she'd been undercover as his PA.

Whatever.

Clint knew other people found his fondness for being up high weird. It made him annoyed sometimes, the looks they'd give him, so he wasn't inclined to do the whole glass house and stones thing about somebody else's non-mainstream habits.

Tony dropped down onto the platform and Clint drank from the bottle in his hand, watching his fellow _Avenger_ emerge from the suit.

Tony was in deep shit with Cap. And Fury. Natasha would give him one of her killer looks. Well, she would have if she was here. Unlike him, _she_ was back to work. S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent her to sniff around and find out what the Hand, those demented ninjas, were up to these days.

Clint took another swallow and watched Tony walk towards the elevator. "Hey. Iron Man."

Tony started, and turned around. "Barton?"

"That's me. Otherwise known as the World's Greatest Marksman." Clint gave a little flourish with his hand. The one that wasn't holding the bottle.

Tony snorted. "Little full of yourself, aren't you? World's Greatest Marksman?"

"It's what I was billed as when I worked in the circus. It was plastered on the banners and the grinders would talk me up." Funny how he always started thinking about his time under the big top when things got shitty. "Like this, 'Hawkeye, the World's Greatest Marksman.'" He imitated the cadence of circus showmen who were drumming up business.

Tony walked over to him, looked down at where he was sitting in the shadows, and frowned. "Old Bardstown Gold? That's what you're drinking?"

Clint studied the bottle. "Sure am."

"You know there's a lot better stuff around here to drink," Tony said, quirking an eyebrow up.

Clint shook his head. "It's your stuff. Not mine."

"So you went out and paid, what? Eighty or ninety dollars for that?" Tony held out his hand and then impatiently snapped his fingers a couple of times until Clint handed it over.

Tony upended the bottle and took a hefty swig.

"Fifteen," Clint said. And there had been times when even that much was more than he could afford.

"Hmm. It's not absolutely awful." Tony handed the bottle back and Clint took a small swallow. He wanted to be able to walk to his room under his own steam.

Tony dropped down next to him. "I know why I'm in no hurry to go inside, but why are you out here?"

"Can't a guy just hang out on a rooftop?" Shit. That sounded too... forlorn or something. He needed to watch his mouth. Clint Barton was dealing with the shit that had happened to him. That was his story, and he was sticking to it. He almost laughed at himself then. Right.

"Sure." Tony reached into a pocket on his flight undersuit and pulled out two small packages. He held one out to Clint. Shrugging, Clint took it and tore open the snack. He leaned his head back and tossed an almond high in the air and caught it in his mouth.

Tony dumped a few nuts into his hand and tucked the package away. He started pouring them from one hand to the other.

"JARVIS told me about Coulson." An expression crossed Tony's face that looked suspiciously like sympathy.

Clint just threw another almond in the air, but caught it again with his other hand. "Yeah. Fucking pneumonia. Medical's banned visitors till his white blood count gets better."

"Sucks."

"Yeah." Clint took another swig of bourbon and passed it over to Tony.

Tony took a sip, and then passed the bottle back. "What is this cheap shit? Comfort alcohol?"

Clint laughed a little. "Uh-huh. From my misspent youth. Hell, it beat drinking Strawberry Hill."

Tony shuddered. "Ugh. Bad, very bad memories about Strawberry Hill and boarding school. So. S.H.I.E.L.D. not ready to take you back yet?"

"Stark..."

"Well, you are out here moping, and I don't think it's just because of Agent's pneumonia or Romanoff's departure." Tony popped the almonds in his hand into his mouth.

"Golly gee. Tony Stark really is a genius."

"Sarcasm becomes you, Barton. So, shrinks dragging their feet about clearing you?"

"Anyone ever tell you you're a nosy son-of-a-bitch, Tony?"

"Do I even need to answer that, Legolas?" Tony held out his hand for the bottle and Clint passed it over.

Fuck it. Just, fuck it.

Tony gave him an intense look, like Clint was a robot with a malfunctioning part. God, the man could be one hell of a curious son-of-a-bitch.

Clint muttered, "Ah, fuck it." He stared at Tony as the seconds ticked by, then gave in. "I was doing pretty good at snowing the psych eval team, until they brought in an empath. She gave me a thumbs down. Now I've got mandatory therapy to get through before I'm cleared for S.H.I.E.L.D. missions." He glared at Tony. "But you. We're all pissed at you, Tony."

"What for? Apartments not working out? Want to repaint? I know you love the archery range, don't even tell me you don't." Tony coughed this time when he took another long pull at the bottle.

Clint shook his head. "I'm cool with staying here and you paying my rent. I'm easy like that. I wasn't attached to my old digs or anything." Tony handed him the bottle back and Clint swallowed another mouthful.

"So, what's the word on the rest of the gang? Our three-week agreement to stay put here together is over. Romanoff want to split, or Rogers?"

"I don't know about Steve. Nat's okay with hanging out in the tower for now. I think she's in love with her bathtub, and she – don't you blab this to her, Stark- well, she feels okay hanging with the team."

"She luvs us," Tony smirked.

"No," Clint drawled. "But she feels connected. She's got our backs, and not just during missions. Tasha doesn't do that for many people. Coulson, me. Maybe Fury. And now Steve and Bruce and Thor. Even you."

"Even me? You sure about that? I halfway expect laser beams to shoot out of her eyes when she's pissed at me." Tony made an exaggerated scared face.

Clint poked him in the chest. "You're still in one piece, aren't you? Even when you're being an annoying shit. You're lucky she already left on a mission and it's only Cap and me to ream you out, considering what you just got done pulling."

"Oh. So you guys know about that?"

Clint snorted. "S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't stupid, Tony. Neither are we. We found out. And Tasha might reserve the right to take you down, but she's not going to let any bad guys have that privilege."

"So you sharing your booze with me is reaming me out?" Tony snickered, and it pissed Clint off.

"Yeah. My plan is to give you a massive hangover. I hope you'll be hovering over the toilet for hours."

"It'll take a lot more than swallowing some of this swill." He reached for the bottle and Clint handed it over.

"You're an idiot, Tony."

"Sticks and stones, stones and sticks." Tony sounded almost gleeful and it pissed Clint off even more.

He  
scowled at Tony. "You're on a team, asshole, and you should have told us what you wanted to do. Hell, I'm bored. I'd have come along just for that reason."

"This wasn't Avengers' business. This was me cleaning up my own damn mess." Tony scowled right back at him and took a long pull from the bottle.

"We would have helped."

"My mess." Tony said, slowly, deliberately. "My weapons in the wrong hands. I made it go boom, problem solved."

"You didn't have any backup. You didn't inform S.H.I.E.L.D. that you were going for that Ten Rings weapon cache. Man, Coulson's gonna be pissed when he reads the report." When he was well enough to stay conscious for more than fifteen minutes at a time, Clint thought. And that didn't look to be any time soon.

"You're not cleared for S.H.I.E.L.D. missions anyway, Barton." He handed the bottle back to Clint, who took his turn at emptying the sucker.

"Fuck S.H.I.E.L.D. grounding me," Clint growled. "Am I an Avenger, or not? I'm not asking S.H.I.E.L.D. for permission when it comes to an Avengers mission."

"Chill, man. Nobody's saying you aren't an Avenger. And I don't give a rat's ass if you don't jump when Fury tells you to hop to it. But. This. Was. My. Mess. I brought those weapons into the world and I should be the one to take them out when they're in the wrong hands. Me. Get it? I'm responsible." Tony's dark eyes looked fiery, no trace of the sarcastic, suave smart-ass that the public loved to watch.

Clint glared at him. "We were worried about you, you asshole. And Pepper's going to skin you alive."

Tony winced. "I know. I had a short conversation with her after the mission. And by short I mean she hung up on me."

"So that's why you're drinking with me out here?" Clint felt his anger with Tony melting away.

Tony looked out at the city lights and stayed quiet for a minute before he coughed. "Well, it's, oh, twenty percent of why I'm still here. Maybe twenty-eight percent. I'm willing to go with twenty-eight percent."

"So what's the other seventy-two percent about?" Clint could do math. Sure he didn't know squat about stuff that would get Stark and Banner all excited, like quantum mechanics and equations that took up an entire wall space, but hey, he could do percentiles.

"Hiding from Rogers?" Tony grimaced. "Well, that's, uh, say thirty, thirty-five percent. If you're mad about my little solo act, then Cap sure ain't gonna be happy. I'm a genius. I can extrapolate data."

"Still leaves thirty-seven percent of... what?"

Tony grabbed Clint's head and planted a sloppy kiss on his forehead. "There's your other thirty-seven percent. Let's never talk of this again. Give me that cheap crap. If I've got to listen to Captain America chewing me out, I'm for sure not going to do it sober."

x x x


End file.
